SARAJEVO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of ten municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) as well as their partners from the government of Switzerland and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed here on Monday a "Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for Sustainable Development."
The declaration is part of a four-year program, launched in 2019, in which the participating municipalities identify and coordinate the implementation of their disaster risk reduction priorities.
In the document, the signatories confirm their commitment to the principles of good governance and of an integrated disaster risk management model.
The program attaches special importance to improving the local coordination mechanisms as well as to promoting a risk-informed strategic planning process with an emphasis on the most vulnerable sections of the population. Around 600,000 people live in BiH's affected municipalities.
According to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), BiH "faces earthquakes, droughts and landslides, and is particularly vulnerable to extreme precipitation and river basin flooding."
This development program, worth 4.2 million euros (4.55 million U.S. dollars), is funded by the government of Switzerland and implemented by the UN agencies UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA and FAO in partnership with local BiH authorities. Enditem
