Environment

Public Services International had the strongest global union presence at the World Social Forum 26-30 March 2013 in Tunis, Tunisia. PSI hosted and co-sponsored numerous events on trade union rights, youth, water, women’s issues, tax justice, energy and climate change.

How to salvage the $50 billion lost to water-related disasters every year? How to maintain disaster-prone areas like cyclone-exposed coastlines, where the human population has skyrocketed 192 per cent over the last 30 years? How to protect impoverished peoples who get hit the hardest, like the 783 million living without clean drinking water, or the millions along the Niger River sacked by flooding?

Superstorm Sandy left New York City scrambling to provide relief for the many people affected by the hurricane, which swept through in the late autumn of 2012. Fifty-five people were killed, and flooding damaged many homes and businesses. As with other disasters, responsibility for response to the tragedy fell to the hands of frontline public service workers. On Thursday 7 March 2013, workers from across the city came together to reflect on their professional experiences and to chart a common course moving forward in terms of disaster preparedness, response and recovery.