Mauritania

The Mayor of Tevragh-Zeina municipality in Nouakchott (Mauritania), Ms. Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick, has been named Champion of the “Making Cities Resilient” campaign in recognition of her commitment and dedication to make her city more resilient to disasters. The UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Ms. Margareta Wahlström, designated Ms. Abdel Malik for this honorary position, which recognizes individuals who use their political influence to promote disaster risk reduction.

This publication provides a short overview of disaster risk reduction in the Arab region.

A declaration by the Mayors and Local Government representatives together with National Government Officials emphasizing the importance of reducing disaster risk in Arab cities, in which the participants of the First Arab conference for disaster risk

This monthly newsletter highlights UNISDR activities around the world. This issue reports on: (i) UNISDR Chief Margareta Wahlström’s view on the implementation plan and governance model for the Global Framework for Climate Services; (ii) disaster trends

She was the first woman to take office as a Mayor in Mauritania and her stature as a champion for resilience and disaster risk reduction in Africa was confirmed last week when she was elected President of the Women’s Federation of Mayors in Africa.

UNISDR Parliamentary Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction, Abdou Sané, Member of Parliament from Senegal, recently welcomed the African Union's decision to establish an African Risk Capacity Secretariat - a specialized agency of the African Union which will help elaborate a legal agreement on a pooled risk insurance facility for droughts, floods, earthquakes and cyclones.

A regional meeting of experts held in Cairo could result in a doubling of the number of Arab countries that systematically report on disaster losses. UNISDR brought together over 40 participants from 15 Arab countries to discuss and exchange experiences on establishing national disaster loss databases.

The League of Arab States (LAS) and UNISDR move one step closer to a plan of action on disaster risk reduction for the Arab region. The action plan is expected to be endorsed at the first-ever Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Arab region planned for 2012.

UNISDR, the UN's disaster risk reduction office, in Egypt joined events around the world to celebrate the International Day for Disaster Reduction, 13 October, with the theme of recognizing the role of children and young people as partners in disaster risk reduction.

Some of the biggest media houses in the world from the Times of India to the Philippines Daily Inquirer to Caracol Television in Colombia have now participated in media training on disaster risk reduction organized by UNISDR, the United Nations office for disaster reduction, with the support of ECHO, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid branch.