Picture: Creative Commons Susan A., 2007
From the 13 to 15 February, the city of Arusha, Tanzania, welcomed over 400 participants for the fourth Africa Regional Platform for Disaster and Risk Reduction. Representatives from all African national platforms, local elected representatives, international organisation (UN Habitat, WHO, AfDB, GFDRR, UNEP, WFP, UNDP, African Union, etc.), civil society and the media all benefited from an awareness raising session.
The objective of this conference was to evaluate the progress made at national, sub-national and regional level on the implementation of the African Strategy (Hyogo Framework and Programme for Action).
UCLG took part in the session on the role of African local governments and resilient cities in facing disasters. Two significant events for Africa: accelerated urbanisation and the increase of the urban population, are considered important elements and are often aggravating as they accentuate the vulnerability and risk in the urban context.
In this session, the important role of elected representatives following the evolution of the decentralisation process in several countries was highlighted. UCLG requested African National Platforms to take into consideration the local level and to work in close collaboration with local governments during the drafting of national DRR strategies.
More information at UNISDR.