Barcelona, 27 May 2015 – UN-Habitat, the International Association Recycling Cities Network (RECNET), and The Institute for Risk Management and Climate Change (IDIGER) have signed a Statement of Cooperation outlining the City of Bogotá as the first of a series of Andean Cities to engage in application of the resilience profiling tools and approaches to measure urban resilience.

Dan Lewis, Chief, Urban Risk Reduction and Resilience Unit from UN-Habitat and Nicola Tollin, President of RECNET, formalized the Agreement, signed previously by the Director of IDIGER, Javier Pava, which aims to enhance global efforts to reinforce local governments capacity to positively influence international agendas on climate change and disaster risk reduction, and promote transition toward sustainable and resilient cities.

This Agreement directly supports the framework of the Letter of Intent signed by the Executive Director of UN Habitat, Dr Joan Clos, and Gustavo Petro, the Mayor of Bogotá, on 13 June 2012.

The Statement of Cooperation outlines the following commitments by all three parties by agreeing to:

1. Promote and advocate for increasing the active participation of local governments in the Andes Region in international policy making on risk reduction and resilience
2. Promote and support creating and enhancing the operational capacity of regional stakeholders’ networks, including local governments and their representatives, in the field of disaster risk reduction and urban resilience
3. Facilitate the active participation of UN-Habitat in regional events on resilience and risk reduction
4. Establish and operate capacity building activities, including knowledge brokerage and training events, at national and sub-national levels

In addition, all three parties are committed to exploring additional opportunities for collaboration in the pursuit of urban resilience and risk reduction throughout the region.