Side event“Platform on Water Resilience and Disasters”
Time: 18:20 – 19:50, Monday, June 11, 2018
Venue: Room IX, UNESCO Headquarter
Organizers: UNESCO-IHP, ICHARM
Flooding is one of the greatest water-related environmental disasters known to us – its human,material and ecological costs can be staggering. The number of people vulnerable to devastating
floods is expected to rise due to large-scale urbanization, population growth in flood-prone
areas, land use changes, climate change and rising sea levels. New disaster risk reduction
approaches are needed to build the necessary capacity to address these challenges.
The International Flood Initiative (IFI) is a worldwide framework to promotecollaboration in flood management among international organizations such as UNESCO,WMO, UNU and UNISDR. ICHARM has been serving as its secretariat.
The establishment of the “Platforms on Water Resilience and Disasters” has been
supported by the High-Level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) andIFI in collaboration with the international organizations such as UNESCO, WMO, UNISDR,UNU, IAHS and IAHR. Based on the Jakarta Statement developed by the joint efforts of HELPand IFI in November 2016, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Myanmar have already agreed on
the institutional structure, data sharing policy and implementation targets of each Platform.
Along with such efforts, it has been recommended that “Platforms on Water Resilience andDisasters among all stakeholders should be formulated in countries to facilitate dialogue andscale up community-based practice” in the outcome document of the High-Level Panel on
Water (HLPW), which is convened by the United Nations and the World Bank Group toprovide leadership in tackling one of the world’s most pressing challenges – an approaching
global water crisis. The recommendation will help achieve the Agenda 2030: SDGs, the Parisclimate agreements and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The objective of this side event is to discuss how to implement the HLPW
recommendation worldwide by sharing the experiences in Asia.

Side event “Platform on Water Resilience and Disasters”
Agenda18:20 – 18:25

Opening address

Mr. Koji Kitayama, Deputy Permanent Delegate of Japan to UNESCO
18:25 – 18:55

Report of progress from IFI active countries(1) Overall report
Prof. Toshio Koike, Director, ICHARM(2) Country report of Philippine
Dr. Anthony Cinco Sales, Regional Director, Department of Science andTechnology (DOST), Davao, Philippine(3) Report of the other countries
Dr. Tetsuya Ikeda, Chief Researcher, ICHARM
18:55 – 19:45

Panel discussion by IFI leading organizations

Moderated by Dr. Blanca Jimenez-Cisneros, Director, Division of Water Sciences,
Secretary of IHP, UNESCO(1) Speech from UNESCO-IHP
Dr. Abou Amani, Chief of Section, UNESCO-IHP(2) Speech from WMO
Mr. Tommaso Abrate, Scientific Officer, Climate and Water Department,WMO(3) Speech from IAHSProf. Christophe Cudennec, Secretary General, International Association of
Hydrological Sciences (IAHS)(4) Panel discussion
Prof. Toshio Koike, ICHARM
Dr. Anthony Cinco Sales, DOST, Philippine
Dr. Abou Amani, UNESCO-IHP
Mr. Tommaso Abrate, WMO
Prof. Christophe Cudennec, IAHS
19:45 – 19:50

Summary and Closing

Dr. Blanca Jimenez-Cisneros, UNESCO-IHP