Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative launched in Europe and Central Asia

Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative launched in Europe and Central Asia

6 May 2021

Brussels – On 6 May, the regional online event “Together Towards City Resilience”, co-organized by the UNDRR Regional Office for Europe and ICLEI Europe, marked the launch of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative in the Europe and Central Asia region.

Opening the event, Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, highlighted that MCR2030 is “an opportunity to improve support to cities and regions engaged to not only have their plans and strategies for the resilience, but to implement them”. She further stressed the importance of solidarity and international cooperation to building sustainable resilient future for cities.

Mr. Wolfgang Teubner, ICLEI Regional Director, welcomed the initiative saying that ICLEI is proud to be co-chairing the initiative and shaping a regional approach that will make the initiative relevant, practical and beneficial for cities in Europe and Central Asia.

The panel discussion included speakers representing five European cities – members of the MCR2030 Initiative and was moderated by Ms. Karin Klasa, the National Focal Point for the Sendai Framework from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and member of the MCR2030 Regional Coordination Committee for Europe and Central Asia.

Mr. Ion Cheban, the General Mayor of Chisinau – the first city to join MCR2030 in the region, said that no city can deal alone with shocks and disasters. He further added that for Chisinau one of the main priorities within MCR2030 is coordinated resilience investment.  

Ms. Sanja Jerković, Head of Office for Strategic Planning and Development, Zagreb shared the experience of her city responding to an earthquake whilst in the middle of a pandemic, demonstrating the value of risk data and risk knowledge to inform resilience measures at city level. This multi-hazard risk management experience taught the city that they would need clear frameworks and protocols and updated data on buildings to estimate damage and earthquake impacts.

Mr. Zdravko Maksimovic, the Head of the Civil Protection Department, Kraljevo highlighted the importance of peer learning and cooperation among cities and communities. “We need cooperation between cities to reach a more sustainable future. The creation of a Barcelona Resilient Hub will help this need of cooperation and will put together best practices from the public sector, private firms, research centres and civil society that will help implementing a bold and vast dimension of resilience in our cities, a key element to reach the 2030 Agenda,” stressed Mr. Miquel Rodríguez, Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, Barcelona.