DATE / TIME:

2015•03•14    13:00 - 16:00

Location:

Sendai

On 14 March 2015, the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will organize the international symposium Mainstreaming Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction: Lessons Learned from 3.11 for the World and the Future as one of the side events at the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Public Forum. The event will start with opening remarks by Mrs. Akie Abe, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan.

Ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and reconstruction is increasingly gaining international attention and its implementation is encouraged in decisions by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Ecosystems such as coral reefs, coastal forests and wetlands can function to reduce disaster risks, which can be leveraged and incorporated into existing disaster-prevention measures. Such ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction is sustainable and cost-effective in the long term. It also contributes to climate change adaptation, the enhancement of local tourism, agriculture, and fishery, as well as biodiversity conservation.

This symposium will showcase Japan’s best practices, such as those in Kesennuma Oshima, based on the lessons learned from Japan’s 11 March 2011 disaster, and refer to other cases outside of Japan. The event will discuss how to mainstream ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and reconstruction measures in Japan and internationally.

Simultaneous English–Japanese interpretation will be provided for this event.

Download the event flyer and IUCN position papers from the Related Files tab.

Programme

(12:40  Doors open)

13:00–13:10 Opening Remarks

Akie Abe (Spouse of the Prime Minister of Japan)

13:10–13:50 Keynote Speeches

• “Ecosystem-based Approaches towards the Resilient Society Living in Harmony with Nature”

  Kazuhiko Takeuchi (Senior Vice-Rector of UNU)

• “Reducing Risks through Ecosystem Management”

  Inger Andersen (Director General of IUCN)

13:50–14:40 Best Practices in Japan and the World

• “Partners for Resilience: Saving Lives and Livelihoods in the Global South”

  Jane Madgwick (CEO of Wetlands International)

• “Reconstruction of Kesennuma-Oshima in Harmony with Nature”

  Shoichi Shirahata (Chairman, Kesennuma-Oshima Tourism Association)

• “Role of Wetlands for DRR”

  Marlynn M. Mendoza (Chief Ecosystem Management Specialist, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines)

  Christopher Briggs (Executive Secretary, Ramsar Convention)

• “Several Measures to Enhance the Forest Function of Preventing Natural Disasters”

  Hiroki Katsuragawa (Director, Forest Planning Division, Forestry Agency of Japan)

14:40–16:00 Panel Discussion “To Promote Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction”

Coordinator: Shiro Wakui (Acting Chair of the Japan Committee for the UN Decade on Biodiversity/Professor of Tokyo City University)

Panelists:

• Fumihiko Imamura (Professor, International Research Institute for Disaster Science, Tohoku University)
• Masatoshi Sato (Chairman, Keidanren Committee on Nature Conservation)
• Satoquo Seino (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University)
• Srikantha Herath (Academic Programme Director, UNU-IAS)
• Radhika Murti (Senior Programme Coordinator, IUCN)

Registration

Please click on the REGISTER button above to access the online registration page.