17 Oct 2014
Washington D.C., US
The Fourth Meeting of the High-level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) was held on 17 October 2014 at St. Regis Hotel in Washington D.C., hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The meeting was attended by about 40 participants from HELP member organizations representing national governments, international organizations, civil society and private sector.
9:00 Opening
- Opening Remarks by Dr. Han, Seung-soo, Chair of HELP, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water
- Welcoming Remarks by Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, US Army Corps of Engineers, USA
- Address by H.E. Mr. Saviour Kasukuwere, Vice-President of African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Republic of Zimbabwe (Read by Mr. Bai-Mass Taal, Executive Secretary of AMCOW)
9:30 Launch of HELP Website
9:40 Discussion on the HELP Secretariat
10:10 HELP’s Action on Climate Change and Water-related Disasters
10:10 Sharing experiences on climate change and “water and disasters”
- Professor Toshio Koike, Director of ICHARM: “Latest scientific findings on climate change and water and disasters”
- Dr. Kathleen White, Lead, “USACE Climate Preparedness and Resilience CoP, “Climate Change Action Plan and Resilience Strategy”
- Mr. Bai-Mass Taal, Executive Secretary, AMCOW, “Climate change and water-related disasters in Africa”
11:00 Discussion on HELP actions to raise profile and make use of the HELP Position Paper on Climate Change and “Water and Disasters”
11:30 HELP’s Action on Post-2015 Development Goals (SDGs) and UN Resolution for Regular Dialogue on Water and Disasters
Update on the progress of action by the Coordinator
12:30 Lunch (Astor Salon next to the meeting venue, in St. Regis Hotel)
13:30 HELP’s Action on developing case studies for Water Policy Journal
- Introduction of status of development of water policy abstracts by Mr. Steven Stockton, Director of Civil Works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Presentations on draft articles for Water Policy Journal
Facilitated by Dr. Jerome Delli Priscoli, Senior Advisor, Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers- Dr. Hideo Tokuyama, Vice-Minister for Engineering Affairs, MLIT, Japan
-Great East Japan Earthquake – Lessons learned from Mega-Disasters and Future Policy Development on Water-related Disaster Management in Japan - Mr. Steve Stockton, Director of Civil Works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
-Comparison Katrina, 2011 Mississippi Flood and Hurricane Sandy, USA - H.E. Ms. Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Minister for Infrastructure and the Environment, Kingdom of the Netherlands
-The Deltaplan revisited – Changing perspectives in the Netherlands’ flood risk reduction philosophy - Dr. Keizrul bin Abdullah, Chairperson, Network of Asian River Basin Organization (NARBO)
-A Tale Of Three Cities (Water Related Challenges in Asia) - Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss, Chair, Global Water Partnership
-Integrated policies and practices for flood and drought risk management - Dr. Wolfgang Kron, Head of Research for Hydrological Hazards, Munich Re
-Flood disasters – A global perspective - Mr. Charles Baubion, Policy Analyst – Risk Management, OECD
–Losing memory – the risk of a major flood in Paris region – Improving prevention policies
- Dr. Hideo Tokuyama, Vice-Minister for Engineering Affairs, MLIT, Japan
- Discussion on lessons learned from the cases and the final concluding messages of the Special Edition
15:30 Contribution to the Tokyo Conference on International Study for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience and the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
- Tokyo Conference on International Study for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience by Professor Toshio Koike, Director of ICHARM
- Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction by Mr. Glenn Dolcemascolo, UNISDR
16:10 Contribution of HELP at the 7th World Water Forum
Mr. Lee Seong Hai, Director of Water Resources Development Division, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Republic of Korea
16:30 HELP’s Action on Provision of safe water and toilets during disaster/conflict strikes
Update on the progress of action by the World Water Council by Mr. Loic Fauchon, Honorary President of the World Water Council
17:00 Other Matters
Upcoming meetings
Next HELP Meeting
17:20 Wrap-up
17:30 Closing