Global Campaign on Making Cities Resilient Launched

INVC,,

Delhi,,

The Global Campaign on Making Cities Resilient was launched here today with the call to make South Asian cities ready to face challenges of urban risk management with effective governance and urban planning. The campaign will be run with the close coordination of United Nation and Governments of the region and urban local bodies of the major cities.

Under the campaign all the agencies will work towards disaster reduction, planning and raise awareness and commitment for sustainable development practices. The campaign will convince city leaders and local Governments to commit a checklist- of ten essentials for making cities resilient and to work alongside local activist, grass root networks and national authorities. Ministry of Urban Development and National Institute of Disaster Management will jointly coordinate the campaign in the country.

Launching the campaign, Minister of Urban Development, Shri Jaipal Reddy said that the region of South Asia is witnessing an unprecedented urban growth mainly due to migration of people from rural areas. This has put very severe stress on urban infrastructure, housing and environment. To overcome this, the Government has sanctioned more than Rs.1,12,000 crore for development of urban infrastructure under JNNRUM scheme besides launching various mission for better governance of civic amenities, which include sanitation mission & safe drinking water mission etc. He called upon local urban bodies to adopt best practices for bringing urban reforms at their level and to ensure participation of people in these efforts by creating mass awareness.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Mullapally Ramchandran said that in view of large urban population in our cities, every city must quickly put in place a system for assessing disaster risks and take appropriate measures for mitigation and preparedness for reducing the after effects on the goods and life of the people.

The two-days Conference is being attended by the Mayors of major cities of South Asian region including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Srilanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan. Besides representatives of the Governments, UN, NGOs and various international bodies. The Conference will discuss case studies of various cities like Mumbai, Dhaka, Colombo, Karachi, Kathmandu and Kabul and dimension of urban risks due to climate change, urban flooding and enforecement of building and zoning regulation etc. besides exchanging expertise of disaster management.