National Workshop “Build Back Better after COVID-19 and the Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Development”

Within the framework of cooperation between the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) and the United Nations Regional Office for the Arab States for Disaster Risk Reduction, a joint workshop will be organized from 30 to 31 January in Cairo under the theme “Build Back Better after COVID -19 and the Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Development”.

Background:

Disasters are a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development goals, and these disasters may cause human and material losses and add new burdens to countries’ budgets to recover from the effects of these disasters and reconstruction, which negatively affects financial allocations for development in various sectors.

In light of the implementation of the Sendai Framework targets for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which was adopted at the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015, in which countries affirmed their commitment to addressing the themes of disaster risk reduction and building resilience to disasters by updating early warning systems and designing national maps to monitor risks, Egypt has prepared its National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2030.

The adoption of a national vision for sustainable development 2030 and in light of the achievement of the sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 in all economic, social, and other fields, prompted the issuance of the Egypt national strategy for managing crises and disasters and reducing their risks during the year 2010 based on the approach of the “Hyogo Framework”, which was updated and reformulated during 2017 under the name "National Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction 2030", to be in line with international approaches, the most important of which are the Sendai Framework (2015 - 2030), the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015 - 2030), and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, aiming to preserve lives and property through the development of a national system for disaster risk reduction in a way that enhances national capacities and contributes to achieving sustainable development".

Objectives:

This workshop comes as part of Egypt’s national efforts to build resilience to disasters to reduce their risks on sustainable development plans, by integrating biological hazards, as well as the method of adaptation to climate change in policies, plans, and programs at all levels, within the framework of cooperation between the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in implementing the regional initiative “Building back better after COVID-19”.

Participants:

Members of the Coordinating Committee for Crisis and Disaster Management, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, General Intelligence, Administrative Control Authority.

Health and population, agriculture and land reclamation, water resources and irrigation, housing, utilities, and urban communities, environment, local development, planning and economic development, international cooperation, higher education, and scientific research, tourism and antiquities, electricity, and renewable energy. General Secretary of the Governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Ismailia, Suez, Qalyubia, Beni Suef, Fayoum.

The National Media Authority, the National Institute for Astronomical and Geophysical Research, the Egyptian General Authority for the Protection of Beaches, the National Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries, the General Meteorological Authority, and representatives of civil society organizations including Red Crescent, Misr El Khair, Raed Foundation, General Federation of NGOs and Food Bank.

Dates: 30 – 31 January 2022

Venue: InterContinental Citystars Hotel, Cairo