Developing Capacities on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction in the Asia-Pacific Region - Jeju, Republic of Korea

Background and Rational

Over the past 20 years disasters have affected 4.4 billion people, caused USD 2 trillion of damage and killed 1.3 million people. Natural disasters affected people living in developing countries and the most vulnerable communities within those countries. Over 95 percent of people killed by natural disasters are from developing countries. Asia and the Pacific is subject to all major types of natural hazards and dominates disaster impact categories across all regions of the world. Between 1970 and 2012, more than half the world’s deaths related to disasters occurred in the Asia Pacific region. An estimated 1.8 million died as a result of natural hazards. Urban risk is continually increasing. It has been estimated that, more than 50 per cent of the world's population is living in urban areas. Urbanization is taking place at an unprecedented rate. In the next 20 years, the world’s population is predicted to increase by an additional two billion.

By 2030 more than 60% of the world’s population is expected to live in cities, with record concentrations in large urban conglomerations and megacities in the developing world. Vulnerability of cities to disasters is on the rise especially as poor people settle in high-risk urban areas. Unfortunately, planning and development of cities has given little consideration to the consequences of hazards such as earthquakes, hydro-meteorological risks and others. The implication of this reality is the need for countries to focus their collective energies to create a safer world for urban dwellers and develop a series of innovative approaches to meet this challenge.  In this regard, building resilience and adapting to climate change is crucial for cities especially those in the Asia-Pacific region. Efforts to build resilience in cities can benefit from integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with existing efforts in disaster risk reduction and other similar planning processes.

This capacity building training workshop, while promoting the importance of effective climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, will provide:

i) an opportunity for local governments and cities in the Asia-Pacific region to enhance capacities in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction with a focus on local governments/cities Resilience Action Plans development and implementation.

ii) a platform to exchange in-depth learning from experts in the related area and to share good practices among participants

iii) a venue for city-to-city cooperation in building resilience in cities by integrating disaster risk principles into local DRR and CCA plans, programs and initiatives

Targeted Audience

High-level authorities and experts from local/city governments, and other local actors within the Asia-Pacific region.

Training Course Modules Description and Recourse Persons

Section 1: Introduction, conceptual framework (Module 1)

Section 2: Understanding and implementing the MCR tools (Modules 2 to 6)

Section 3: Planning the way forward (Module 7)

Module 1: Finding a common language and Introduction of trends in urban risk and risk reduction

Module 2: Introducing Making Cities Resilient (MCR) Global Campaign and Campaign Tools. MCR Campaign 10 Essentials with Case Studies.

Module 3: Applying MCR Campaign Tools for Assessment and Diagnosis. Using Local Government Self-Assessment Tool (LG-SAT)

Module 4: Development and Implementation of a City Land Use Management Plan; Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Reduction into Development and Sectoral Programmes for Socio-Economic Development with Case Studies on Following Sectors

Module 5: Developing and Implementing Safe and Resilient Country/City Action Plan

Module 6: City Action Plan Monitoring, Evaluation and Follow Up.

Objectives

Overall, the training course will provide an opportunity to disaster prone developing countries to:

Increase political commitment and social demand for disaster resilient development, adapted for climate change, aiming for sustainable development. Increase engagement of national actors in the field of national development and planning with the DRR and CCA Agenda and enhance country planners and decision makers’ ability and commitment to promote DRR and CCA through relevant systems, policies and processes. Learn about the Making Cities Resilient Global Campaign and how its tools, materials and approaches may be used to build local resilience to disasters. Building capacities of experts and officials at local level with a focus on City Resilience Action Plans development and implementation based on MCR Campaign 10 Essentials to make their cities resilient to disasters.