DATE / TIME:

2012•05•15    19:00 - 20:30

Location:

Bonn

Public symposium: “Cities: Drivers of development – drivers of risk?”

The 11th Bonn Dialogues event, to be held as a special event of the ICLEI 3rd Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation (12-15 May 2012, Bonn), will address drivers of development and risk as well as potential disaster risk management strategies towards natural hazards in urban areas (with a special focus on flooding).

Panellists will address the following questions:

• What are drivers for development and risk?
• Will it be possible to avoid a further increase of disaster risk?
• What are the main effects of upcoming global changes on development and risk?
• Is there a blueprint for resilient city development?
• Are changes in severity and frequency of extreme events a major driver of risk, or do vulnerability factors (such as informal settlements) play a more important role in this context?
• Compared to other hazards, why is the role of urban flooding so important in this context?
• What are best practice disaster risk management strategies for urban flooding?
• What are important constraints of existing approaches?
• How should guidelines for vulnerability assessment of different social groups and critical infrastructures be designed?

The panellists will include Prof. Jakob Rhyner (UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security), Peter Lauwe (German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK)), Greg Pillay (Disaster Risk Management Centre, City of Cape Town, South Africa), and Joachim Prey (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH; to be confirmed).

For more information, and to register to attend, see the event page on the UNU-EHS website.

About the Bonn Dialogues series

The Bonn Dialogues Series on Global Environmental Change is a forum for discussing substantive issues related to anthropogenic drivers and consequences. The series, which has been held twice yearly since 2007, addresses topics such as climate, water, energy, migration and food through an interdisciplinary approach. It is jointly organized by the United Nations University in Bonn and the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV), in partnership with the City of Bonn and with supported by Deutsche Welle, the European Union and the State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia.