The International Conference on Silk Road Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development was conducted in Beijing on May 11th and 12th. Being led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and KMS Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS, the conference was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, and the United Nations Environment Programme. 17 institutes and universities, such as Sichuan University-The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction served as the organizers of the conferences. Representatives from international organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and more than 780 experts and scholars from countries along the “Belt and Road" participated in the conference.
President Chunli Bai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Vice-Minister Runqiu Huang of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Henrik Slote, Director of Disaster Management Branch, Policy Division of the United Nations Environment Programme, Timothy Wilcox, Project Officer of the United Nations Disaster Reduction Agency for Asia-Pacific Region, and Academician Bojie Fu, Vice-President of the International Geographical Union, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction delivered a video speech. During the meeting, 15 well-known experts at home and abroad, including Peng Cui, the executive chairman of the organizing committee of the conference and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, made key-note academic reports. The conference has one main venue and 24 parallel sessions. With the theme of "building a safe, green and sustainable silk road hand in hand", it explored issues related to disaster data sharing, disaster prevention, mitigation and emergency management. Our Institute ( SCU Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction ) was in charge of the sub forum (the twelfth session) of "Cooperation Mode of Higher Education for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction, Management and Post Disaster Reconstruction", which attracted more than 40 experts from China, Japan, Pakistan and other countries. Among them, 15 foreign scholars came from the countries along the “Belt and Road”.
The experts made academic reports on the theme of the parallel session, and shared experience regarding the cooperation between universities and colleges in view of "disaster risk reduction, management and post disaster reconstruction". The in-depth discussions provided wise insights. During the meeting, Soichiro Yasukawa, a UNESCO project expert, and Jennifer McKinley, director of the Environmental Change and Recovery Research Laboratory in Northern Ireland (The EC&R Cluster), affirmed the leading role played by Sichuan University-The Polytechnic University of Hong Kong Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction in comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation.
The international conference on disaster prevention and mitigation and sustainable development lasted for two days and concluded on May 12th. Leaders of nearly 40 international organizations and research institutes from countries and regions along the "Belt and Road", and more than 700 Chinese and foreign scientists from different disciplines jointly published the Beijing Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainable Development on Silk Road. They proposed that they would join efforts in strengthening exchange regarding science, technology and policy, and promote the construction of a coordinated mechanism for the "Silk Road" natural disaster risk prevention. Centering around sustainable development, the declaration has proposed four action plans of science and technology and nine measures in support of the Silk Road disaster risk prevention and management.
With the initiative of KMS Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS; Sihuan University-The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction; and Institute of Geographic Sciences and Resources Research, CAS, the International Coalition for Disaster Reduction Science was formally established at the closing ceremony. Professor Ruiqing Ke of our institute participated in the design of the coalition. At present, the coalition has attracted nearly 30 scientific research institutions and institutions of higher learning from China, Italy, Belgium, Nepal and other countries, as well as organizations such as the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Integrated Research on Disaster Risk ( IRDR ) of International Council for Science, and the Center for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation of UNESCO International Knowledge Center for Engineering Sciences and Technology to join the coalition.
After the closing of the conference, the People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Xinhua Net, CCTV News and China Daily and other media reported on the conference. The media reports attracted wide attention and were highly influential.
