Prevention and cooperation

In the Globe's web comment, the UN University points out the cost savings in preventing a disaster rather than dealing with its effects:

We need better, more scientifically grounded information on risks and vulnerability. We need new and improved warning systems and infrastructure, including nature's gifts of mangroves, coral reefs and wetlands. We need to prioritize professionalism and competence above partisan and personal loyalty in appointing people to responsible positions of disaster preparation and management. This means people committed to good governance and efficient delivery of services rather than ideologues who dislike government and want to starve it of cash and privatize all its functions.

Most importantly, we need to shift from a culture of reaction to one of prevention, from the local to the global. The present pattern is to spend $1 on preparedness for every $100 on relief, when in fact prevention shows a cost-benefit ratio of 10, or 15 to 1. The capacity of governments to respond to natural disasters must be strengthened and sustainable land- and resource-management practices must be promoted. And the accumulated experience and comparative advantage of the United Nations must be acknowledged and exploited...

(M)ember states have the capacity to disable decision-making and policy implementation by the UN but lack the vision and the will to empower and enable global problem-solving. The UN cannot displace the responsibility of governments (local, state, national), but it can and should be the locus of multilateral diplomacy and collective action to solve collective problems.

All of the above measures sound so sensible that it's a wonder anybody could disagree. But then it's always easy to forget the importance of disaster prevention, especially when it's working. Katrina seems to have focused the world's attention on the realities of preparedness, but it remains to be seen whether or not that focus will last.

Naturally, not all disasters can be contained preemptively. On that score the article also points out problems in the current lack of cooperation. There's been a lot of active resistance to any collective response to most problems. When a rare exception is made (as was the case with the Asian tsunami), the resulting response is far more efficient than is possible when anybody tries to go it alone. Which is something that the world would do well to keep in mind as it tries to agree on the future shape of the UN.