Three Resilience Hubs in the Americas and the Caribbean

Campinas, Medellin, and Mexico City became the first three cities in the Americas and the Caribbean region to be recognized as "Resilience Hubs" of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative. The announcement was made on December 21, 2021, closing the first year of the MCR2030 initiative's activities.  

These cities became Resilience Hubs for their commitment as well as progressive policy and advocacy work to address disaster and climate risks. They will serve as Resilience Hubs for the next three years continue developing their disaster resilience while inspiring other cities to do the same. 

Resilience Hubs are cities, municipalities, or other local entities that have demonstrated leadership and commitment in incorporating risk and resilience into municipal policies and approaches. Furthermore, they commit to take action to address disaster and climate risks and to develop and implement Disaster Risk Reduction strategies and plans in accordance with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and contributing to the achievement of the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

​After continuous commitment in the past ten years as a Role Model City of the Making Cities Resilient Campaign, with numerous DRR projects and the Public Health System Resilience Scorecard implementation, Campinas became an example in urban resilience and climate adaptation. The city's local resilience plan, formulated with the assistance of UNDRR, demonstrates good practices in each of the Ten Essentials.  

The city also demonstrates efforts for ecological approaches to disaster risk reduction through Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory and Vegetation Cover Recovery Program. The implementation of an Early-Warning System, an Emergency Operations Center and an Integrated Monitoring Center has improved Campinas resilience and supports other cities at the metropolitan level in their emergency management operations. As a Resilience Hub, Campinas is also committed to supporting other cities in partnerships for disaster risk reduction through activities and city-to-city knowledge exchanges.  

"Campinas is recognized as an international leader in building resilience and is committed to working to integrate various municipal agencies, the community, and the private sector to implement public policies for disaster risk reduction. and, especially at this time, seeking to develop coping mechanisms with inclusion policies in post-covid recovery" Dário Saadi, Mayor of Campinas, 2021.

Echoing this commitment, Medellin offers to work for the enhancement of city-to-city collaboration and inspire other communities to become more resilient. Medellin is also committed to ongoing knowledge sharing and mentoring other cities to promote safer, sustainable, and resilient urban futures. As a Resilience Hub, Medellin will develop awareness-raising, training, and technical support activities at the local, metropolitan and departmental levels. It also proposes knowledge exchange activities such as participating in a sister city program and conducting a course on damage assessment in buildings.  

Medellin demonstrates multi-level cooperation; between various sectors and entities at a local, metropolitan, departmental, and national levels, honoring another key aspect of Resilience Hubs. The city is recognized for the implementation of resilience actions at the global level as well as its alliance with organizations such as C40 and the Global Communities Consortium. 

“In Medellin, with the resilience and innovation that characterizes us, we have been making progress in our commitment to the planet. Joining the C40 Network of Cities Leading on Climate Change, having a team of technicians and experts to build the Climate Action Plan (PAC), allocating a physical headquarters equipped as a center for Climate Management and making all the resources of the Secretariat of the Environment available for these initiatives have been some of the contributions that make us a regional reference and a decisive actor in the defense of the environment in Latin America.”  Daniel Quintero Calle , Mayor of Medellín, 2021 

Adopting a similar multi-level cooperation strategy, Mexico City presents vertical articulation within the metropolitan area and highlights its horizontal articulation by developing multisectoral participation within its Resilience Council that is integrated by protection institutions from other states. 

In reference to the Strategic Objectives of MCR2030, Mexico City carries out workshops to sensitize both population and government officials about the importance of DRR. They also take advantage of tools such as the "Risk Atlas" and the development of indicators for occurrence, impact, risk management, and resilience to continue their work and to update plans and implement actions towards a more resilient and risk-informed city.  

As a Resilience Hub, Mexico City is committed to developing mentoring activities at metropolitan, national and regional levels through workshops for the application of DRR tools, the participation in national and international forums, the organization of working sessions with other Resilience Hubs and the support to other governments in designing and improving their tools, protocols, and methodologies.  It also presents a proposal to lead three working sessions between Resilience Nodes. 

“Mexico City has been able to develop a resilient network that allows the city to react to disruptive movements, with the ability to adapt to catastrophic events and return to effective functioning in a better way.“ Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Mexico City Head of Government, 2021. 

Additionally, all three cities have established governance systems dedicated to improving resilience. The Campinas Resilient City Committee has up-to-date risk data and financial support from the metropolitan and state levels, Medellin's governance structure is vertically articulated with the metropolitan, departmental and national scale, and Mexico City's Resilience Council proposes and follows up on resilience policies, strategies and projects 

From MCR2030, we are proud to announce these Three Resilience Hubs in the Americas and the Caribbean. Campinas, Medellín, and Mexico City are highly committed to building disaster resilience and advocating for disaster risk reduction and MCR2030.  

Cities interested in becoming Resilience Hubs or taking the first steps to build their resilience along the MCR2030 roadmap can sign up here.