Multi stakeholder approaches for resilient urban communities in coastal zones

The threats to coastal communities include extreme weather events such as hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons, coastal storms, tsunamis, and floods, as well as longer-term risks of coastal erosion, salinization and sea level rise. In its August 2021 report, the IPCC states: ‘if coastal societies do not adapt, flood risks will increase by 2–3 orders of magnitude reaching catastrophic levels by the end of the century.’ Many of the world’s cities, particularly the secondary (intermediary) cities lack adequate infrastructure and resilient systems to withstand the impacts of multiple hazards and disaster risks. As a result, the vulnerabilities of underserved urban communities are becoming more complex and intersecting with environmental, societal, and economic change. It is now widely acknowledged that multi-stakeholder, holistic, scalable and ambitious action is required to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change at all levels from individual to city, to national, to global. Moderated by a facilitator, the panel discussion will bring together representatives of civic society, local governments, and partner organizations to share different perspectives and experiences in addressing unique climate related risks and vulnerabilities that urban communities in the coastal zones face. The panelists will cover a diverse range of approaches and tools that contribute to the resilience of coastal cities with a strong perspective of community participation. The Global Disaster Preparedness Center will showcase the results of coalition building in cities in 3 countries in South Asia, (Indonesia, Vanuatu and Myanmar) with community participation to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change at all levels from individual to city, to national, to global. ICLEI will bring the local government network perspective for inclusive urban resilience. The panelist from the Resilient Cities Network will highlight how coastal cities can intentionally prepare themselves for extreme weather conditions. She will share experience from resilience planning with coastal cities in the network and successful application or implementation of such strategies. The Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance will share how they are working with multi stakeholders at the city and community levels to measure the resilience to floods and extreme heat in different regions. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions on the chat and at the end of the session 15 minutes will be allocated for answers from the panelists.