The Honourable Lord Mayor of Port Vila, Albert Sandy Daniel, and the Head of UN-Habitat’s Urban Basic Services Branch,André Dzikus, signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA).

The signing took place on Monday 12 November, 2018 and outlines the implementation of the City Resilience Profiling Tool (CRPT), UN-Habitat’s preeminent tool for building resilience at the urban scale, in Port Vila, the capital city of Vanuatu.

Commenting on the major resilience challenges in Port Vila, Lord Mayor Daniel commented, “Port Vila faces many natural hazards including cyclones, earthquakes, and flooding. In 2015, Tropical Cyclone Pam caused significant damage in Port Vila and throughout Vanuatu, a disaster which was heard about around the world. We also face issues of poverty, lack of basic services, and unsafe living conditions.”Esteban Leon, the Head of UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP), the programme developing the CRPT, highlighted that, ‘by implementing UN-Habitat’s tool, Port Vila will not only build resilience but will join 250 other partner cities working under the Making Cities Sustainable and Resilient action, financed by EC DEVCO.”

The parties discussed the importance to building resilience at the urban scale and for the Port Vila Municipal Council (PVMC) to take the lead in working to address major dynamics affecting Port Vila including the growing impacts of climate change, increased frequency of natural hazards, and the growth of informal settlements.

The signing of the agreement coincided with the Lord Mayor’s participation in the Barcelona Resilience Week and the Smart City Expo World Congress, both of which took place in Barcelona during the week of 12 November. In addition to delivering prepared remarks as part of a dialogue on Climate Action and Resilience alongside representatives from Italy, Spain, and Russia, the Lord Mayor participated in a series of bilateral discussions with delegations from other cities from around the world.

While initial engagement between the PVMC and UN-Habitat has already begun, and included extensive data collection and a workshop held in Port Vila in September 2018, the LoA represents an official commitment from both parties to fully implement the CRPT. As discussed in Barcelona, implementation will conclude with a series of recommended actions, collaboratively developed, focused on making Port Vila more resilient.

Consult Port Vila’s Resilience Snapshot