Greater Manchester named one of four Europe climate-risk resilience hubs

Greater Manchester has been named as a Resilience Hub in recognition of the work it has carried out towards climate and disaster risk reduction.

Joining Barcelona, Helsingborg and Milan the cities will serve three-year terms sharing best practice and enhancing city-to-city collaboration to shore themselves up against climate-related distasters.

The Resilience Hubs are part of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Making Cities Resilient 2030 initiative, which launched in January, which has the aim of helping cities 'become inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030', mirroring the wording of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11).

Special representative of the secretary-general for disaster risk reduction and head of UNDRR Mami Mizutori said: "As disaster and climate risk grows, prevention on a global and local level will be critical. These Resilience Hubs exemplify the potential of cities to lead the way in disaster risk reduction and help build a more resilient world."

Greater Manchester was recognised for the overhaul of its resilience strategy particularly in relation to local flood-risk initiatives. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of 10 councils: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: "Greater Manchester is a place that always works in partnership and always wants to forge strong bonds with our fellow cities across the world. We know that the world is changing – including the impact of climate change, we know that we can’t just stand still, and we have to work hard to boost our resilience."

Burnham outlined that the city has established a cross-sector partnership in the city-region – the Greater Manchester Resilience Forum, appointed a chief resilience officer and brought forward its Greater Manchester Resilience Strategy.

Continuing he added: "We are doing lots of good things, and want to share our experiences, but we are sure that we can also learn from other cities around the world as we face these big challenges together."