Online Training Workshop on Strengthening Cities Resilience to Climate and Disaster Risks

Date, Time and Venue

Date: 23 - 25 June 2021

Time: 13.00 - 17.00 hours (Bangkok Time, UTC+7)

Venue: Virtually (Zoom)

Background

Rapid urbanisation has a potential to make countries productive and prosperous. On the other hand, at present, most of the cities are totally unprepared to handle multiple challenges associated with urbanisation. Consequently, the urban population is at high risk. Today, more than half of the world population live in urban cities. Comparatively, urban areas concentrate disaster risk owing to urban expansion, increasing population, infrastructure and assets, and inadequate management. Hence, building resilience became an essential need for all urban cities. Current and future challenges of mainstreaming climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into national and local development planning demand new approaches, mechanisms, sets of skills and competencies that need to be identified and strengthened in order to form the basis of increasing public demand and political commitment to local actions and budget allocations. Lack of appropriate knowledge on the subject, lack of government commitment and the absence of mainstreaming DRR and climate change adaptation in current organizational and government strategy and plans are key existing challenges. 

Objective

This three days virtual training aims to assist city and local governments in building greater resilience to climate and disaster risks through integrating climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into wider city development plans and strategies.

Date and Format

The virtual training will take place from 23 - 25 June 2021 at 13.00 - 17.00 hours Bangkok time (UTC+7).

The workshop sessions are specifically designed to engage participants in interactive discussions, group exercises and practical reflection on existing approaches, models, case studies, and experiences in strengthening cities resilience to disasters.

Programme

The three days virtual training will include theoretical session with key experts following the daily themes:

• Day 1 (23 June 2021):
  - Global Frameworks for Urban Resilience 
  - Building Disaster Resilience in Cities and Local Level
• Day 2 (24 June 2021):
  - Tools to Assess Cities Resilience
  - Eco-DRR in Cities and Watersheds
• Day 3 (25 June 2021):
  - Engaging Academia in Strengthening Cities Resilience
  - Resilient City Action Plan Development, Implementation and Evaluation

Speakers

• Mr. Sanjaya Bhatia, Head of Office, Office for North East Asia (ONEA) &Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)Dr. Naoya Tsukamoto, Director, Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (AIT RRC.AP)
• Dr. Mutarika Pruksapong, Programme Management Officer, Global Education and Training Institute (GETI), United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
• Mr. Omar Amach, External Relations Officer, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
• Dr. Isabelle Louis, Deputy Regional Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Mr. Armen Rostomyan, Senior Programme Specialist, Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (AIT RRC.AP)
• Dr. Karen Sudmeier-Rieux, Senior Advisor, Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Dr. Nathalie Doswald, Nature-based Solutions and Eco-DRR Expert, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Dr. Simone Sandholz, Academic Officer, United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)
• Dr. Jessica Barlow, Vice President, Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities - Network  (EPIC -- N)

Target Audience

The training is open to city and local government officials, disaster management professionals, and representatives from academic and training institutions working on disaster risk reduction, adaptation and sustainable development.

Organizers

• UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) 
• UN Office for Disaster risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for Asia & Pacific (ROAP)
• Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) 
• UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
• Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N)
• Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030)