Cities and urban communities around Asia and the Pacific are facing an era of unprecedented uncertainty, with climate-induced disasters becoming more frequent, intense, and unpredictable. Over the past three decades, extreme weather events have accounted for 90% of all disasters, posing significant threats to urban areas through intensified storms, coastal flooding, deadly heatwaves, water shortages, and prolonged droughts. At the same time, local authorities face other systems-wide crises, in terms of water, food, and energy security. The Political Declaration of the midterm review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in May 2023 reiterates the extreme challenges to hand and conveys a deep concern that the pace of implementation is not sufficient or equal. The gaps at the local and urban level are particularly large.
In response to these challenges, municipalities across Asia Pacific are scaling up their ambitions and actions on disaster resilience to protect their citizens and local infrastructure assets and systems. The Political Declaration of the midterm review of the Sendai Framework calls for scaled up support and action at the local level, urging countries to:
- Support and enable all local authorities to have disaster risk reduction strategies and local platforms for disaster risk reduction, or similar mechanisms, in place;
- Ensure the provision of financial assistance, technical support, and capacity development to strengthen local multi-hazard risk governance and local government leadership on disaster risk reduction;
- Promote local ownership through community-based disaster risk management approaches and whole-of-society engagement; and
- Promote exchanges and peer learning between cities through increased participation in the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative.
Register via Zoom.
Meeting venue
Agenda
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 08:00 – 09:00 | Registration |
| 09:00 – 09:10 | Opening Remarks Norio Saito, Senior Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Office Incheon, United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) (Online speaker) |
| 09:10 – 10:40 | Theme 1: Showcasing Urban Solutions – SDGs in Action at the Municipality Level Moderator: Mr Andy McElroy, Global Coordinator MCR2030, UNDRR Speakers: Ms Deborah C. Dacanay, Head of Quezon City Persons with Disability Affairs Office, Philippines – Quezon City Community Inclusive Disaster Preparedness Interventions (SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities) Ms Susana Sousa Gonçalves, Director of Civil Protection Matosinhos, Portugal – Putting Communities at the Heart of Resilience Action (SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities) Ms Sung Ah An, Public Officer, Incheon Metropolitan City, Republic of Korea – How Incheon Effectively Manages Increasing Heatwave Risk (SDG 13 Climate Action) Q&A session |
| 10:40 – 10:55 | Coffee Break |
| 10:55 – 12:25 | Theme 2: Financing Urban Disaster Resilience Moderator: Mr Jinqiang Chen, Urban Development Specialist (Climate Change), Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB Speakers: Ms Liza Ramos, Research and Planning Division Head, Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, Makati City, Philippines – How is Makati Developing Innovative Financing Options for Resilience (Online speaker) Ms Jazlyn Lee, Engagement Lead for Southeast Asia & South Asia, Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy and the Gap Fund Partnership – Empowering Cities to Transform Climate Ideas into Action through the City Climate Finance Gap Fund Mr Thomas Kessler, Principal Finance Specialist (Disaster Insurance), ADB – Building Climate and Disaster Resilient Cities – Risk Management, Financing and Insurance Q&A session |
| 12:25 – 12:30 | Group Photo |
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Networking lunch |
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Theme 3: Learning from MCR2030 Resilience Hubs Moderator: Mr Alessandro Attolico, Executive Director of the Territorial Planning and Civil Protection Office at the Province of Potenza, Italy Speakers: Dr Kathy Oldham OBE, Chief Resilience Officer, Greater Manchester, the UK – How Greater Manchester Works with Nature as Part of Flood Risk Management (Online speaker) Mr Jieyong Luo, Resilient City Officer for the City of Zhuji, PRC – Building a Resilient River City – Zhuji’s Practice in Governing and Transforming Puyang River to Enhance Flood Resistance Mr Stefan Wagner, Head of the Department of International Affairs and Global Sustainability, City of Bonn, Germany – Connecting the Green Agenda from National to Local Level (Online speaker) Q&A session |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee break |
| 16:00 – 18:00 | Theme 4: Learning from Asian Development Bank Moderator: Ms Jingmin Huang, Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB Speakers: Mr Khen Sopheak, Deputy Director of Inter-Sectoral Division of Kep Provincial Hall, Cambodia – City-to-City Partnership on Resilient City Development Ms Yingxia Xie, Former Vice President, Professor, China Academy of Urban Planning and Design – Urban Resilience Evaluation Method and Index System Ms Arpita Mozumder, Assistant Engineer, Planning Unit, Local Government Engineering Department, Bangladesh – Coastal Towns Climate Resilience Project in Bangladesh Mr Ming Hu, Senior Engineer, Director of Movement Control Office, Fuzhou Urban Water System Joint Drainage and Coordination Centre – One Center Manages the Entire City, Digitization Ensures Safety: Innovative Practices of the Fuzhou Water System’s Coordinated Management Mechanism Q&A session |
| 18:00 – 20:30 | Networking dinner |
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 10:30 | Theme 5: Strengthening National-Local Coordination Moderator: Ms Susana Sousa Gonçalves, Director of Civil Protection Matosinhos, Portugal Speakers: Mr Alessandro Attolico, Executive Director of the Territorial Planning and Civil Protection Office at the Province of Potenza, Italy – Long Term Strategy for Effective Risk Governance Mr Aslan Kandygulov, Director of the Center, Urban Environmental Sustainability Center, Astana, Kazakhstan – Resilience Action Plan for a 21st Century City Mr Ali Ahmed, Deputy Mayor, Kulhudhuffushi City Council, Maldives – Strengthening Local Capacity with MCR2030: A City’s Sustainable Approach to Building Resilience Q&A session |
| 10:30 – 10:45 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 – 12:15 | Theme 6: Identifying solutions to major urban disaster resilience challenges Moderator: Ms Deborah C. Dacanay, Head Persons with Disability Affairs Office, Philippines Speakers: Mr Hee Jong Kim, Director Ulsan Research Institute, Republic of Korea – Forging Multisector City Partnerships for Resilience Mr Thayukorn Prabamroong, Director of Climate Change, Mitigation, Adaptation Research Unit, Mahasarakham University, Thailand – How the Thai Network for Disaster Resilience of 17 Universities Supports Local Governments to Reduce Disaster Risk Ms Sofia Karma, Dr Chemical Engineer, Academic Staff National Technical University of Athens, Greece, Director of the European Center for Forest Fires, EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement/Council of Europe – Recommendations for Managing Urban Heatwaves and for Inclusivity in Disaster Preparedness and Response Q&A session |
| 12:15 – 13:30 | Networking lunch |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Orientation: Disaster Resilience Scorecard Assessments for Cities Introduction: Orientation on two new self-assessment tools to understand capacities and gaps in terms of climate resilience and early warning systems. Group work: Participants will split into two groups and try out one of the tools. Plenary feedback: Participants will share feedback on their discussions and potential deeper dive follow-ups with individual cities will be discussed. |
| 15:00 – 15:15 | Coffee break |
| 15:15 – 17:15 | Final Session: Moving Forward on Urban Resilience in Asia Moderators: Mr Andy McElroy, Global Coordinator MCR2030, UNDRR Mr Jinqiang Chen, Urban Development Specialist (Climate Change), Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB Mr Xijie Lu, Urban Development Specialist, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB -This moderated session will be a focused group discussion to identify priority areas for collaboration & collective commitment to ensure follow-up action on urban disaster resilience. -How can MCR2030 Resilience Hubs, Asian Development Bank, and cities work better together to strengthen urban disaster resilience – what plans/commitments can be made? -What kind of support is required to deliver on these plans/commitments? |
| 17:15 – 17:20 | Closing Remarks: Ms Jingmin Huang, Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB |
| 18:00 – 20:30 | Networking dinner |
| Time | Program |
|---|---|
| 09:00 – 12:30 | Site visit to Guangxi Polytechnic of Construction – The Introduction of Guangxi Polytechnic of Construction, current status and the achievements of the Resilient Cities Development Research Center, Urban Renewal Research Center (Habitat Building Research Center) – Campus visit – Lunch at school cafeteria |
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Back to hotel |
| 14:00 – 17:50 | Site visit to Guangxi Institute of Safety and Technology – Visit the emergency service station in Xingdong Community, Nanning – Visit Guangxi Institute of Safety and Technology |
| 17:50 – 20:30 | Networking dinner |
Highlights
Documentation will be available here after the event.
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