Beijing, May 9, 2019 – Today the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), jointly with China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange (CICETE), Innovation Center for Risk Governance of Beijing Normal University (BNU), Ya’an Mass Organization Social Service Center and Shenzhen One Foundation, launched the UNDP and China Risk and Resilience Innovation Project Phase II and Ya’an Resilience City Development Innovation Project. Around 50 guests from UN agencies, government, the private sector and social organizations participated in the launching ceremony in Beijing.

On the eve of the 11^th National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Day, the main objective of the event was to summarize previous results and experiences, and look ahead to explore resilient development models, utilizing international theoretical and practical progress, combined with the context of Chinese city development and emergency management work.

During the opening of the event, Prof. Zhang Qiang, Director of Innovation Center for Risk Governance of BNU (Project Management Office), introduced the project in detail. By building a resilient system of three levels “Family, Community (school included) and City” mainly supported by social participation in Lushan county of Ya’an, the two-year project seeks to facilitate sharing of information, technology and knowledge in the field of disaster governance.

The project actively responds to this year’s National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Day theme of “Improving the ability to cope with disaster, building resilience to save lives” and moves the focus forward to pre-stage, facilitating the exploration of resilient communities and cities as well as the development and promotion of a comprehensive disaster risk reduction pilot city featuring Chinese characteristics and international influences.

During the ceremony, Mr. Shan Chunchang, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee of the National Disaster Reduction Commission, Leader of the Emergency Management Expert Group of the State Council, expressed that “This project will not only be a systematic summary of China's resilience city development experience, but also effectively promote dialogue and sharing between China and the world.”

“We hope to utilize the existing results and combine international experience and resources to help transform Ya'an, which is currently disaster-prone, into a more resilient city.” Devanand Ramiah, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP China said.

Mr. Zhang Yi, Deputy Director General of CICETE, stated that he expects to explore a systematic and effective Ya'an experience and share it with other cities in China as well as the Belt and Road countries through the implementation of the project.

Mr. Wang Jialiang, Member of the Standing Committee and Chairman of the Labor Unions of Ya’an, said that “Ya'an will actively integrate the strengths of all parties and comprehensively enhance the city's resilience to provide strong support for building a green development pilot city.”

“Not only limited to Ya'an, Sichuan, we hope to further enhance the domestic experience of risk governance as well as disaster prevention, mitigation and relief from the social participation level,” Mr. Li Hong, Secretary-General of One Foundation said.

Prof. Li Jing, Chief Scientist of Innovation Center for Risk Governance of BNU expected the project research team will make a unique contribution to the exploration of urban public security governance systems from several aspects including knowledge, education, technology, resources, mechanisms, and policies.

After the disaster education innovative case sharing of campus safety movie trailer, Prof. Li Xuefeng from the Emergency Management Training Center of the National Academy of Governance led the keynote speech session. During the session, Director Mr. Zhu Ming from the Department of Policy Research of National Disaster Reduction Center of China, Mr. Xu Hongnian, member of the Standing Committee and Executive Deputy County Chief of Lushan County, and Deputy Director Ms. Ren Changrong from Ya’an Mass Organization Social Service Center communicated with participants respectively.

This project will not only further the transformation of phase I outcomes and create an integrated setup of “Chengdu Capacity Building Platform, Ya’an Pilot Implementation Base and Beijing Knowledge Innovation Center”, but also continue to strengthen research and development of standardized knowledge products in disaster response, such as standards, tools and cases, and promote knowledge sharing on resilient cities in China and beyond.

Contact Information: Ms. MENG Jun, Assistant Communications Officer, UNDP China Tel: +8610 8532 0719, Email: jun.meng@undp.org