A project to enhance disaster reduction and response capacity for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative was launched in Beijing on Wednesday.
This is a concrete follow-up to the memorandum of understanding and action plan signed between the United Nations Development Program and the Chinese government to integrate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development into the initiative.
The project, entitled "Technology for Resilience - Belt and Road Initiative Capacity Building Project", aims to provide better tech-based solutions for disaster risk information as part of early warning systems, as well as the accuracy of post-disaster damage assessments to enhance countries' disaster preparedness and response capacities.
It is led by the UNDP and China's National Development and Reform Commission, with technical guidance from the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Agi Veres, country director of UNDP China, said the project is expected to bring innovative development solutions to tackle challenges in disaster reduction efforts.
According to Veres, natural disasters have affected more than 1.5 billion people and cost at least $1.3 trillion over the past decade.
"Climate change, inadequate governance, insufficient access to technology and an increasing concentration of people living in disaster-prone areas have created a situation that is driving disaster risk upwards, especially in poor and fragile countries," she said. "This poses a critical threat to achieving the United Nations 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals."
Chen Linhao, a deputy director-general at the science and technology ministry, said this program would make full use of the innovative Beidou Navigation System and be based on the principles of mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, facilitate the sharing of technological resources among BRI countries, as well as provide high-accuracy disaster reduction data services for the promotion of the initiative.
Zhang Qin, an officer from the NDRC, said cooperation will bring tangible benefits to countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, and is worthy of further scaling up and promotion.
