WCDRR 2015: Japan and Netherlands join UNISDR in Resilient Cities Initiative
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP), a business association representing 119 small to large corporations based in Japan, and UNISDR, agreed to develop a means to link suppliers of resilience building tools and services with the cities that need them.
At the WCDRR-conference in Sendai, Japan, the three partners presented the ‘Statement of Cooperation for Implementation of Resilient Cities Connect’, and announced to connect cities, development partners and businesses to exchange their knowledge, services and capacities to accelerate public and private actions to reduce risks in cities.
Henk Ovink (top photo left) , the Special Envoy for international water affairs of the Netherlands, Margareta Wahlstrom (middle), head of United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), and Naohiro Nishiguchi (right), president of the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP) share a light-hearted moment after agreeing on the statement on 17 March.
Better understanding between governments and businesses
The Special Envoy for international water affairs of the Netherlands, Mr. Henk Ovink said: "The Resilient Cities Connect aims to help public and private partners to substantially reduce risk and disaster losses, in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries. It literally bridges the gaps between governments and businesses and builds trust through a better understanding."
The President of the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP), Mr Naohiro Nishiguchi said: "We are ready to design the infrastructure and process to connect potential local government needs to reduce risks with private sector solutions or innovate and generate new solutions, if necessary, to specific disaster risk reduction measures."
Ms. Margareta Wahlström, head of UNISDR, said: "It is clear that the risk in cities is growing faster than our ability to reduce them. We need to innovate and ensure that solutions, tools and methods for resilience building are not only available, but also accessible. We need to accelerate resilience building at the local level, and this partnership will contribute to do this."
About Resilient Cities Initiative
Resilient Cities Connect is a platform where cities, development partners and businesses can exchange their knowledge, services and capacities to increase the local resilience of people, public services and businesses.
The platform is part of the campaign Making Cities Resilient, the world’s largest association of local governments, with more than 2,500 cities and municipalities signed up to the partnership. The goals of the campaign are for cities to know more, to invest wisely and for these cities to build more safely.
This news item was originally published on the website of United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
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• WCDRR 2015: Dutch flood expertise appreciated in Serbia, 19 March 2015
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• WCDRR 2015: Colombia, Japan and the Netherlands take lead in global advocacy of river deltas, 17 March 2015
• WCDRR 2015: Royal Dutch field visit to tsunami hit elementary school, 17 March 2015
• WCDRR 2015: Disaster risk reduction makes a perfect blend with water management, 16 March 2015
• WCDRR 2015: Partners for resilience puts communities in front seat of smart DRR, 15 March 2015
• WCDRR 2015: Flood prevention key for Dutch delegation in Sendai, Japan, 10 March 2015
More information
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)
Geneve, Switserland
isdr@un.org
This video explains the aim of the Resilient Cities Connect platform and invites more partners to join.