The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Making Cities Resilient Campaign focused on how to accommodate urban priorities in the post-2015 disaster risk reduction (DRR) framework.
Participants stressed that the post-2015 framework should address the local level, and that national governments should support decentralization and be responsive to cities' needs.
10 September 2014: The 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) Making Cities Resilient Campaign focused on how to accommodate urban priorities in the post-2015 disaster risk reduction (DRR) framework. Participants stressed that the post-2015 framework should address the local level, and that national governments should support decentralization and be responsive to cities’ needs.
The Steering Committee Meeting took place from 8-9 September 2014, in Salford, Greater Manchester, UK. The Committee, which consists of representatives from local and national governments, the private sector, NGOs and UNISDR, discussed the Making Cities Resilient Campaign within the context of the upcoming Third UN World Conference for DRR, which is expected to adopt a revised version of the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA). Committee members reviewed priorities and challenges, initiatives for building local-level disaster resilience, and proposals and mechanisms for fast-track implementation. Speakers discussed the role of local government in the future DRR agenda, in particular, in the pre-zero draft of the post-2015 framework.
During the event, Jerry Velasquez, UNISDR Chief of Advocacy and Outreach, stated that the unreported, recurrent, smaller local disasters often have the biggest impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. He emphasized that poor urban planning, poverty and failure to protect and nurture ecosystems must be addressed in the post-2015 DRR framework.
The steering committee meeting agreed to establish working groups to feed into the post-2015 DRR framework in the local context, including one that will focus on the ‘Making Cities Resilient Marketplace,’ a proposed platform for promoting and sharing innovation technologies and services between local and national governments, intergovernmental and NGOs, the private sector, communities and other stakeholders. The Marketplace will be officially launched in 2015 at the Third UN World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan. [UNISDR Press Release]