16 August 2011: The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) has announced that 38 parliamentarians from 33 countries have adopted the Chengdu Declaration of Action, a five-point strategy addressing natural resource and environmental management, climate change and disaster risks.

The Declaration was adopted during the 2011 World’s Cities Scientific Development Forum (WCSDF) at the Mayor’s Summit on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), held from 11-13 August 2011, in Chengdu, China. The five-point strategy includes: enhancing cooperation between cities; incorporating disaster-resilient initiatives into urban development planning; improving disaster preparedness and emergency management of cities; and raising more awareness in cities about DRR.

The other points of the Declaration include focusing on upcoming international meetings such as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), and working with national governments to include urban sustainable development and resilience as a national priority in the outcome of the Conference.

UN/ISDR underlines that its World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Making Cities Resilient – My City is Getting Ready!” was an underlying theme for both the WCSDF and the Mayor’s Summit on DRR, and that 12 cities signed up to the campaign. These included five cities in China, as well as cities in Costa Rica, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Africa, Uganda, the US, and Vanuatu. [UN/ISDR Press Release] [Chengdu Declaration of Action] [WCSDF Website]