Japan and Netherlands join UNISDR in resilient cities initiative

Source(s): United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
Henk Ovink, the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands, Margareta Wahlstrom, head of UNISDR, and Naohiro Nishiguchi, the President of the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP) share a light-hearted moment after agreeing on the ‘Statement of Cooperation for Implementation of Resilient Cities Connect’. (Photo: UNISDR)
Henk Ovink, the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Netherlands, Margareta Wahlstrom, head of UNISDR, and Naohiro Nishiguchi, the President of the Japan Bosai Platform (JBP) share a light-hearted moment after agreeing on the ‘Statement of Cooperation for Implementation of Resilient Cities Connect’. (Photo: UNISDR)

17 March 2015, SENDAI – Two countries at the forefront of global disaster risk management efforts today joined with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) in an innovative partnership to strengthen urban resilience.

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.

In a ‘Statement of Cooperation for Implementation of Resilient Cities Connect’, the three partners will connect cities, development partners and businesses to exchange their knowledge, services and capacities to accelerate public and private actions to reduce risks in cities.

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 a 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.”

The Making Cities Resilient Campaign is 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.

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