Enhancing Alexandria’s climate resilience through the Alexandria Consortium and MCR2030

As one of Egypt's most strategically important coastal cities, Alexandria faces a complex and interconnected risk landscape shaped by coastal hazards, climate change, rapid urban growth, infrastructure exposure and increasing pressure on essential services. These challenges will continue to affect communities, public infrastructure, local businesses and long-term development gains. Strengthening the city's resilience will therefore require an integrated approach that brings together risk information, institutional coordination, climate adaptation, urban planning, infrastructure management and local economic resilience. The proposed Alexandria Consortium will provide an opportunity to support the city's transition towards becoming a disaster-resilient coastal city and to position Alexandria as a regional hub for disaster risk reduction and urban resilience by 2030.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Regional Office for Arab States, in cooperation with Alexandria Governorate and relevant national and local counterparts, will convene a three-day technical workshop in Alexandria from August 31 to September 2 under the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative. The workshop will bring together representatives of Alexandria Governorate, municipal and local departments, urban planning and infrastructure authorities, disaster and crisis management units, environmental and climate institutions, and agencies responsible for transport, water, sanitation, energy and coastal protection. Participants will also include national authorities, academic and technical institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, municipal finance and monitoring units, communications teams, civil society organizations and representatives of vulnerable groups.

The workshop will focus on supporting Alexandria's resilience planning process through a combination of technical presentations, facilitated discussions and practical group exercises. Participants will review Alexandria's resilience context, institutional arrangements, ongoing initiatives and priority climate and disaster risks before being introduced to the Alexandria Consortium, the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Sessions will also examine urban resilience concepts, the relationship between disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, and approaches for strengthening the resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises through business continuity and risk management.

Participants will undertake a comprehensive assessment using UNDRR's Climate Resilience Scorecard for Cities and the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Through facilitated working groups, they will assess Alexandria's resilience capacities, identify institutional and technical gaps, evaluate sectoral priorities and propose preliminary resilience actions. The assessment process will enable stakeholders from different sectors to develop a shared understanding of the city's strengths, vulnerabilities and opportunities for strengthening resilience.

The workshop will conclude with the consolidation of assessment findings and the identification of priority resilience actions that will inform the development of Alexandria's future Resilience Roadmap. Participants will review the assessment results, agree on cross-sector priorities, identify follow-up actions and discuss future thematic workshops and technical assistance under the Alexandria Consortium. The workshop will also establish arrangements for continued coordination and implementation, ensuring that resilience planning remains locally led and evidence-based.

Through technical collaboration, stakeholder engagement and joint planning, the workshop will strengthen institutional coordination, improve the use of risk information in urban planning and establish a practical foundation for advancing Alexandria's resilience agenda. By supporting the development of a city-wide resilience action plan under the Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative, the workshop will contribute to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Egypt's national resilience priorities.