Cities are often at the frontline in addressing and responding to climate-related hazards due to their geographical location, often in low-lying coastal areas, and the concentration of population, infrastructure, and assets. In cities, the risk of climate hazards is layered on top of diverse social and economic dynamics that unevenly spread the impact of shocks or stressors. At COP28, the declaration on a Global Climate Finance Framework was released with 10 Key collective actions, to help make financing available, accessible and affordable for all.  Focused on developing incentives for risk-reducing behaviour at the community level, understanding risks and vulnerabilities can help direct investments and risk financing into building resilience for the most vulnerable, and enhance local governments' understanding of the gaps and opportunities, and instruments for funding disaster preparedness and prevention.

As part of the MCR2030 RCC thematic semesters - Risk Financing Working Group, this Webinar will address the key challenges faced by local and regional governments in securing access to investments and financing for resilience building at local levels, so that communities are better prepared and equipped for the impacts of disasters, and local governments can provide a better service provision to the communities they serve. Furthermore, it will support a better understanding of different models for ensuring rapid, and cost-effective resources to finance recovery and reconstruction efforts. During The first Roundtable Discussions, an overview of the 2023 European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO23) Resilience Investment and Financing Forum will be provided, indicating outputs from the MCR2030 Disaster Risk Financing Roundtable, and discussions on Facilitating Climate Adaptation through Risk Insurance: Community led Decision Making Process for Urban Resilience. Experiences on planning local level resilience strategy implementation will also be provided by the City of Chisinau, Moldova. This will be followed by sharing the key messages from the Istanbul Regional Conference on Insurance & Risk Financing by UNDP. For the Second Roundtable Discussions, research findings on Appraising Investments in DRR and several options as  community incentives for resilience building will be shared by the University of Huddersfield. As Resilience Hubs of MCR2030, the Province of Potenza will share experiences on mainstreaming resilience finance into planning, and the Municipality of Matosinhos who will tell us more about the role of Community Awareness and Early Warning Systems (EWS) in acting in anticipation or early after a disaster can save lives and livelihoods, protect public finances and safeguard development gains.