On Monday 31 August, the Global Cities Hub took part in the first Geneva Disaster Prevention Dialogue, co-organized by UNDRR and the Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva.
The new Dialogue series seeks to draw on the wealth of expertise in International Geneva, bringing together Member States, UN actors, practitioners, academics and technical experts to exchange experience and identify solutions for strengthening disaster prevention and resilience. Its first session focused on a particularly stubborn challenge: how to make “Build Back Better” a reality. The challenge is significant. Build Back Better is currently the least advanced of the four priorities of the Sendai Framework, with recovery too often improvised in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
As highlighted by Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, three elements are critical:
🔹Institutions: establish the legal and institutional arrangements for recovery before disaster strikes.
🔹Finance: put recovery financing arrangements in place in advance, drawing on multiple sources where possible.
🔹People: place communities at the centre of recovery and use reconstruction as an opportunity to build more resilient, equitable and inclusive societies.
The discussion also underlined the diversity and complexity of the challenge, with Member States sharing experiences ranging from cyclones, floods and landslides to droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and the pressures of rapid urbanisation.
For the Global Cities Hub, one message was particularly important: Build Back Better is fundamentally a question of governance — and therefore of urban governance in a world that is becoming more urbanized by the day.
The Sendai Framework is particularly significant for local and regional governments (LRGs) because, unlike many international instruments, it explicitly recognises their role in reducing disaster risk. LRGs are not simply stakeholders to be consulted: they have responsibilities, capacities and decision-making powers that directly shape disaster risk. Many of the decisions that determine whether risk increases or decreases are taken at local level: land-use planning, urban development, building regulations, infrastructure, housing and public services. And when disaster strikes, it is LRGs that are on the frontline of response and recovery.
The experience of the city of Sendai in Japan, following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, illustrates what this can mean in practice: recovery was used not simply to replace what had been destroyed, but to reduce future vulnerability through stronger physical defences, relocation where appropriate, resilient infrastructure and investment in community preparedness. The ongoing work by UNECE with the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv in Ukraine offers another important lesson: recovery and reconstruction can, and should, be planned before reconstruction begins, integrating resilience, public spaces, infrastructure and quality of life into the planning process.
So the GCH’s message to Member States is simple: Work with your cities and regions now, before the next disaster strikes. Put in place the legal and financial frameworks for recovery. Clarify responsibilities. Develop recovery plans and principles in advance. And ensure that LRGs are part of this preparation and are able to engage with their communities.
This being said, there is also a role for Member States at the international level.LRGs need a more formal space in global disaster risk governance, not only to be recognised in international frameworks, but to bring their experience, challenges and solutions into the discussions that shape those frameworks. Because ultimately, giving cities and regions a stronger voice is not only about inclusion. It is about making disaster risk reduction, and Build Back Better, work better for everyone.
📸 Frederick Shaw on Unsplash
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