From extreme weather events such as floods in Germany and wildfires in Greece to the COVID-19 pandemic, disaster risks are growing and becoming more relevant to people living in urban centres. To solve different crises like the ones the world experienced in 2021, cities need access to relevant resources and the expertise of institutions working on topics such as disaster risk governance, resilient recovery, resilience institutionalisation and coordinated approaches to resilience.

This is why ICLEI Europe has partnered with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and other international organisations to launch the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) campaign earlier this year as co-chair of the initiative in Europe and Central Asia. At the European Forum for Disaster Risk Reduction (EFDRR), held in Matosinhos, Portugal, from 24-26 November 2021, ICLEI Europe’s Director, Wolfgang Teubner, explained the rationale behind the campaign and what’s in it for cities and local governments willing to raise the bar in urban resilience.

“Making Cities Resilient 2030 builds on the experience of many institutions working with cities on resilience issues, including ICLEI, the World Health Organisation, UN-Habitat, the Resilient Cities Network and the World Bank. When cities join MCR2030, they gain access to the resources and support offered by all these organizations and many other partners at the regional level. MCR2030 aims to leverage their knowledge and expertise in a grand alliance,” said Mr. Teubner.

Over the past decade, more than 4300 cities and local governments joined the previous phase of the campaign, concluded in 2020. “This may seem like a large number, but if you think about the number of cities in the world today, we know we need to do more, we need to do it faster, engage more cities and scale up the implementation of risk reduction measures”, he added.

Mr. Teubner spoke alongside Octavian Bivol, UNDRR's co-chair of the MCR2030 Regional Coordinating Committee for Europe and Central Asia (RCC-ECA), and Helena Monteiro, from the MCR2030 Secretariat, at the opening of the MCR2030 RCC-ECA Meeting at the EFDRR. In addition, he joined a panel discussion on "Leveraging Local Resilience" with resilience experts from across Europe.

ICLEI members Barcelona (Spain) and Helsingborg (Sweden), along with the cities of Greater Manchester (UK) and Milan (Italy), were welcomed at the event as the first four European MCR2030 “Resilience Hubs” in recognition of their policy and advocacy work in addressing growing climate and disaster risks. They will serve three-year terms as Resilience Hubs, working to enhance city-to-city collaboration and inspire other cities and communities to become more resilient to disasters. Each of them has already developed local solutions to improve their ability to withstand and recover from disasters in alignment with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, such as establishing governance systems with a dedicated department, unit or focal point on resilience or disaster/climate risk reduction.

As MCR2030 co-chair in Europe and Central Asia, ICLEI will facilitate access to MCR2030 through its vast network of members, support cities’ engagement in the initiative, reinforce learning networks and help convert advocacy and capacity building into real action and implementation of resilience measures.

To learn more, access the MCR2030 initiative website.