On 19 November 2020, the AIT RRC.AP organised and hosted a webinar on “Making Cities Resilient  2030 (MCR2030): Cities and Partners Engagement in Asia and the Pacific”  in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N). The webinar gathered 109 (58.5% - Man and 37.7% Woman) resilience enthusiasts of various affiliations (academia, civil societies, international organisations, local government, national government, and private sectors) from 26 countries around the world. The webinar served as an important platform to aware stakeholders on the MCR2030 campaign, discuss best practices, and roadmaps used by different organizations, and share lessons learned in establishing partnership and greater engagement of key stakeholders in strengthening cities’ resilience to climate change and disaster risks.

The webinar was moderated by Mr. Phurba Lhendup, head of climate change, RRC.AP, and started with a keynote address by Dr. Naoya Tsukamoto, Director of RRC.AP who highlighted the approaches and roadmaps used by different UN agencies and organisations to bring cities in the resilient pathway towards achieving international agreement like the Sendai framework for disaster risk resilience, the new urban agenda, the Paris agreement, and the sustainable development goals. While inviting for innovation to leverage human knowledge and creativity in the context of limited finance for adaptation and resilience, he welcomed the MCR2030 campaign led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and expressed RRC.AP’s commitment to support the initiative.​