Makati City Mayor Abby Binay announced that the city has been proclaimed as the first-ever Resilience Hub in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia by the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
Binay said that with this proclamation, Makati City will lead in the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative.
MCR2030 aims to contribute directly to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) and other global frameworks by empowering cities to become inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030.
“We thank the UNDRR for granting us the honor and privilege of serving as a Resilience Hub of MCR2030 for the next three years,” Binay said.
“Over the past decade, Makati has made great strides in its journey to resilience largely aided by MCR tools made accessible to us. We are eager to pay it forward by optimizing the opportunity to share our knowledge, best practices, and resources with other cities so that together, we can attain the highest level of resilience come 2030,” she added.
The UNDRR defines resilience hubs as cities, municipalities, or local authorities that have political and technical commitment to take actions to address disaster and climate risks.
It said that in order to qualify as a resilience hub, a city must have reached a high level of resilience building commitments, showed sustained mechanism for DRR/resilience investments, and with an expertise and interest in disseminating best practices to other cities joining the MCR2030. The position is renewable every three years.
MCR2030 resilience hubs may also host international events related to the MCR2030; coordinate study tours to showcase practical examples and share experience; twin up with other cities to provide support in the expertise area; provide technical assistance and support training to enhance resilience awareness and in the development and implementation of the DRR/Resilience strategies; publish and disseminate knowledge products, lessons learned and good practices; provide access to partners who can support the journey of twinned cities along the Resilience Roadmap; inject seed financing; and provide assistance with credit ratings and development of municipal bond markets.
Binay explained that since the city's signing up for the MCR campaign in 2010, it has effectively mainstreamed and institutionalized disaster risk reduction in its policies, plans and programs.
Its best practices in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) have also been shared in a number of international platforms joined by cities all over the region.
The mayor said Makati’s commitments in support of other MCR2030 cities in the next three years include the expansion of city-to-city sharing initiative in international platforms, development of the Makati DRRM Knowledge portal, and the integration of MCR2030 in the Makati DRRM Academy.
In 2017, Makati City enhanced its resilience roadmap – the Makati Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan – using the Disaster Resilience Scorecard, an MCR tool.
In 2020, the city used the Disaster Resilience Scorecard Public Health Addendum in coming up with its DRRM-Health Plan that integrates public health emergencies to mitigate their impact on all sectors.
Binay also currently serves as Vice President of CityNet; President of CityNet National Cluster – Philippines, UCLG ASPAC Council Member; Executive Committee Member and former Vice President of WeGO; Global Executive Committee Member - Lead Innovative Financing Portfolio of ICLEI World; Regional Executive Committee member as Lead of ICLEI Southeast Asia; City Ambassador for Asia of the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (CCFLA), and Board Member of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM).
On Sept. 26, the city was chosen as the Disaster Cluster leader of CityNet, the largest association of urban stakeholders aiming to promote sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Binay, CityNet’s Disaster Cluster convened in September where the city has once again expressed its interest in serving the cluster after being its co-lead for four years. After the meeting, Makati City was also elected to become the vice-president of CityNet for 2023-2026 together with Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
As the president of CityNet’s National Cluster in the country, Binay said Makati City will continue to improve and strengthen its disaster risk reduction and management capabilities and share its knowledge with other local government units (LGUs) in the country.