High-level Roundtable Discussion on Healthy Wetlands, Resilient Communities

In celebration of World Wetlands Day 2017, this Roundtable Discussion will feature the role of wetlands in protecting people and enhancing their resilience to disasters. It will focus on how wetlands can be optimized for reducing the risk of flooding, including in urban areas, drought and windstorms and storm surges. Drawing from practical examples, the Roundtable will discuss how sustainable wetlands management can contribute towards more resilient development.

The Roundtable will represent different perspectives, including speakers from Governments, civil society, humanitarian and development agencies. It will be conducted as an interactive, free-flowing dialogue between speakers as well as with the public audience.

Outcomes of the discussion are expected to reflect on the following:

• Challenges and solutions in harnessing wetlands for disaster risk reduction;
• Opportunities for increasing/scaling-up investments in wetland management solutions for disaster risk reduction (including in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction).

The outcomes of the Roundtable will be shared as a contribution to the 2017 Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction, which will be held on 22-26 May in Cancun, Mexico.

Additional Information

This event will take place 2 February 2017 11:00-12:40 CET. To attend this event, kindly register online or send a message to gen.secretary@unep.org.