Interesting exchanges at the end of the panel discussion, upon Raymond’s statement that there is a need for more advocacy to underline that funding for anticipatory action is not in competition with funding for response. Risk financing instruments should be complementary. Animesh Kumar from UNDRR responds: “It’s not competition at all, we are living in a world of scarce resources. And it is all about the optimal utilization of these resources.” He cites the growing humanitarian needs: “If you take just the figures from 2015-2022, the number of people in need has doubled and we have not been able to meet the requirements of humanitarian action for more than 50 percent.”
According to Animesh Kumar this shows the value of anticipatory action: “We do not have enough resources to keep having this vicious cycle of responding to a disaster once it has happened, hence it makes sense to invest more in anticipatory action and risk management so that we can prevent the disasters from happening in the future rather than waiting for the disaster to happen and making it so expensive to respond.”