IASC Weekly (NY) - Resilient Cities
New York
I am pleased to invite you to the next IASC Weekly meeting in New York, scheduled for Friday, 11 March from 11.30 a.m. to 12.45 p.m. in OCHA's OUSG Conference Room 1 at 380 Madison Avenue (6th floor). We will discuss how to make cities more resilient to humanitarian disasters.
More than half of the world's population now live in cities and urban centres, with one third living in precarious and under-served informal settlements. By 2030, the urban population is predicted to exceed five billion, 80 percent of whom will reside in towns and cities in the developing world. The Port-au-Prince earthquake exemplified how vulnerable urban populations are to natural hazards. Urban violence is also a growing concern. It is clear that increasing urbanization will challenge the humanitarian community in years to come. Against this background, the 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign is focused on making cities resilient. The IASC has recently adopted a strategy and two-year action plan to meet humanitarian challenges in urban areas and many of you are working to address humanitarian needs in urban contexts.
I hope you will join the discussion on Friday with experts from ISDR, IOM and UN-Habitat.
If you have any questions, please contact Martijn Dalhuijsen at dalhuijsen@un.org.
In case you experience difficulties in accessing the venue, kindly ask the receptionist to call Tes Dimalanta at: 3-1823.
With best regards,
Christelle Loupforest
Head of the IASC/ECHA Secretariat
Meeting Documents
Agenda
Agenda for the IASC Weekly, 11 March 11.30 a.m. - 12.45 p.m. OCHA's OUSG Conference Room 1, 6th floor, 380 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10017 (between 46 and 47 Street) 11.30 - 11.35 Introductory Remarks Ms. Christelle Loupforest, Head of the IASC/ECHA Secretariat, opens the meeting and introduces the speakers. 11.35 – 12.00 Resilient Cities Ms. Elina Palm, Liaison Officer of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Office in New York, will brief on the Resilient Cities - World Disaster Reduction Campaign. 12.00 – 12.25 Unresilient Cities Ms. Michele Klein Solomon, Permanent Observer of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to the UN, will give an update on the situation in IDP camps in Haiti, as the rain and hurricane season approaches. 12.25 – 12.40 Meeting Humanitarian Challenges in Urban Areas Yamina Djacta, Deputy Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) Office in New York, will discuss how IASC organizations can help to meet urban challenges in the 21st century (see attached strategy). 12.40 – 12.45 Closing Remarks Ms. Christelle Loupforest, Head of the IASC/ECHA Secretariat, will conclude the meeting.