ISC commits to enhanced collaboration with UN-Habitat and UNDRR on urban health and wellbeing and disaster risk reduction

The two agreements set out plans for enhanced collaboration in order to strengthen the use of scientific evidence in policy and public action on key issues for human wellbeing and sustainable development.

The ISC’s Science Director Mathieu Denis said:

“There is a growing recognition by governments that the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and Sendai Framework must be informed by the latest scientific evidence. The ISC stands ready to ensure that this happens. We are pleased to strengthen our long-standing collaboration with UN-Habitat and UNDRR, and to have identified multiple paths for increased partnership in the years to come.”

In late May the ISC signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat), and the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE) at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), on the topic of ‘Implementing Urban and Territorial Planning and Policy for Improved Health and Wellbeing’. The cooperation between the signatories aims to support the implementation of the UN-Habitat International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning and National Urban Policy Programme. They have agreed to work together on:

• Enhancing global awareness of frameworks, tools and practices
• Strengthening the technical and institutional capacities of stakeholders
• Network institutions and professionals in the fields of healthy urban planning

Through the Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHWB) programme the ISC and the IUE will provide expertise, facilitate capacity building activities, and coordinate the participation of scientists in the development of National Urban Policy and Urban and Territorial Planning frameworks and other relevant materials.

The ISC also recently signed a partnership agreement with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for scientific inputs towards the implementation of the Sendai Framework. The ISC has been working with UNDRR for a number of years, in particular through the joint sponsorship of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk programme (IRDR) which was established in 2010 with support from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST). Under the new partnership agreement the ISC and UNDRR have agreed to collaborate on:

• Engagement with the scientific community around the development of frameworks, definitions and other relevant reports
• Ensuring science-based evidence is available and promoted for a risk-informed approach to development
• Increasing understanding of the impact of new technologies for DRR and risk-informed development
• Bridging the data gap and data capacity required for risk-informed development

Details of opportunities for the scientific community to get engaged in these processes will be shared on this website, in our newsletter and our social media.

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