Meeting History
Jul 07 2020

Fifteenth Meeting of HELP

The Fifteenth Meeting of The High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) was held on Friday, May 29th, 2020 virtually using web meeting platform for the first time in the HELP history.

The meeting was attended by about 84 participants from HELP member organizations representing national governments, international organizations, academia, civil society and private sectors.

Draft Summary and Minutes

Opening Plenary (75 minutes)

  1. Opening
    • Opening Remarks by Dr. Han Seung-soo, Chair of HELP
  2. Approval of Agenda
  3. Discussion on HELP matters
    • Membership issue
  4. Keynote remarks by HELP members
    • Mr. Basuki Hadimuljono, Minister of Public Works and Housing, Republic of Indonesia
    • Mr. Roald Lapperre, Vice-Minister of the Environment and International Affairs, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Kingdom of the Netherlands
    • Mr. Janez Lenarčič, Commissioner, Crisis Management, European Union (video message)
    • Mr. Kunihiro Yamada, Vice-Minister for Engineering Affairs, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism, Japan
    • Mr. Bambang Susantono, Vice President for Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank
    • Mr. Damon Lilly, Senior Executive Service, US Army Corps of Engineers Pacific Ocean Division
    • Mr. Janos Bertok, Director for Public Governance, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
    • Mr. Yusuke Amano, Senior Vice President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
    • Prof. Howard Bamsey, Chair, Global Water Partnership
    • Mr. Loic Fauchon, President, World Water Council
    • Dr. Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Professor of ITB (Institute of Technology Bandung), Republic of Indonesia
    • Mr. David Boys, Deputy General Secretary, Public Services International

Discussion (90 minutes)

1. Discussion on the 2020 HELP Actions under COVID-19 Pandemic

  • HELP activities between the 14th Meeting and outbreak of COVID-19
  • Briefing on COVID-19 and DRR
  • Guest speakers:
    • Dr. Ryoma Kayano, Technical Officer of World Health Organization Centre for Health Development in Kobe of Japan (WHO Kobe Centre)
    • Professor Emily Ying Yang Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong / Director of Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC)HELP 2020 Actions under COVID-19

2. HELP 2020 Actions under COVID-19

  • “Principles to Address Water-related DRR under COVID-19 Pandemic” and the way forward (including approval of the Principles)
  • International Online Conference “Addressing Water-related DRR under COVID-19 Pandemic”
  • HELP Web-based communication on DRR under COVID-19
  • Other HELP actions to address DRR under COVID-19

3. HELP Flagship Initiatives under COVID-19

  • Flagship Initiative on Climate Change (the Netherlands)
  • Flagship Initiative on Financing and Investment for Water-related DRR (MLIT, Japan)
    • Presentation by Dr. Tetsushi Sonobe, Dean, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)
  • Flagship Initiative on Alliance of Alliances for Water-related DRR Researches (ICHARM and Sichuan U.)

Closing (5 minutes)

  • Wrap up by Chair

Meeting History