The efforts of UNISDR and its partners to emphasize the importance of cities and local governments in DRR and building resilience can be traced back to the launching of the UNISDR Making Cities Resilient campaign in 2010 https://www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities. 

As the world’s population becomes increasingly urban, disaster risk is predominantly concentrated within cities and urban areas. The concentration of people, assets and activities in urban centres often generates new patterns of hazard, exposure and vulnerability.

Success in achieving greater resilience depends on the competence and capacity of local governments to advance and sustain locally rooted development processes and goals that integrate DRR and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

It requires learning about changing risks and opportunities, identifying and evaluating options, making decisions and revising strategies in collaboration with a range of actors, particularly those most at risk. It needs to focus on what must be done, but more importantly, on how and by whom, and with what support.

Each State has the primary responsibility to prevent and reduce disaster risk but it requires an all-of-society engagement and partnership. Every DRR success story involves planning and implementation that gives importance to community or civil society involvement.

In some cases, it is local governments leading the process of disaster risk reduction and resilience building. But in many other cases, communities themselves – alone or with the support of NGOs, academia and/or the private sector – take the lead in disaster risk reduction.

This new Words into Action guide is intended to inspire many actors who are interested in creating effective local resilience strategies.

Date:

19 Mar 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Governance

Regions:

Africa, Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania