<Seoul Symposium on Community Disaster Resilience: Measuring and Supporting Community Resilience in the Era of Climate Change and Increasing Disaster Risks>
Seoul Symposium took place in Seoul, September 11-12, 2023. The symposium was co-organized by Center for International Cooperation and Strategy, Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS-GSIAS-CICS) and Asia-Pacific Disaster Resilience Centre (APDRC) in collaboration with Maekyung Media Group’s World Knowledge Forum. It was sponsored by Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Republic of Korea and Korean Red Cross.
Day 1, 11 September 2023 at the Headquarter of Korean Red Cross, Henry Dunant Hall. Session 1 commenced with the main them of <Community Disaster Resilience: Defining ‘Community’ and understanding ‘Resilience’ from local contexts>.
John Twigg, an honorary professor from University College London moderated the online-offline hybrid session. Sandra Engstrom, a lecturer at University of Stirling started with her presentation on <What’s important to them? Stakeholder views on building community resilience in Scotland>. And Jin-ho Chung, a researcher in Climate Mobility, and Principal Investigator of CEMENT at University of Oxford conveyed his perspective and experiences on <Intra-community politics: winners and losers from the CBA projects in Ethiopia>. Terry Cannon, Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex stated his critical reflection on <The ‘myth’ of community and why the concept is a problem>. Finally, Yunjeong Yang, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies conveyed her practical knowledge and thoughts on <Whom we refer to, and how they understand: local perspectives of ‘community’ and ‘resilience’ in Cambodia>.
Day 2, 12 September 2023 at the Shilla hotel Topaz room, session 2 and 3 took place at World Knowledge Forum 2023. Session 2 with the sub-theme of <Climate Change Adaptation and Community Disaster Resilience: Sharing Lessons from CCA projects in Asia> was moderated by Jung-Wuk Hong, a professor at KAIST Center for Disaster Science and Technology. Starting with a Keynote speech by John Twigg, Honorary Professor at University College London, about “Building resilient communities: Insights from theory and practice”, the session was dedicated to share Experiences and Reflections from Recent CCA Projects. Adriana Keating, a research scholar from International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis shared her insightful presentation titled <What we learnt and where we head to: Findings and reflections on a CCA action research project in rural Cambodian communities>. Canh Toan VU, technical lead at the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition in Vietnam gave his reflection on <Community flood resilience in the urban setting – insight from the FRMC project in Vietnam>.
Session 3 was carried on as a roundtable panel with the title of <Strengthening Practice-Policy-Research linkages in the Era of Climate Change>. The moderator of the hybrid session was Yunjeong Yang, a professor at HUFS.
Sanjaya Bhatia, the Head of Office North-East Asia & Global Education and Training Institute in UNDRR shared his thought about <overall UN trends and implications for global cooperation in knowledge sharing and skill training to build resilient communities>. Emma Porio, a professor at Ateneo de Manila University, Project Leader & PI, Coastal Cities at Risk in the Philippines, and the President, Asia Pacific Sociological Association) gave a presentation on <Reflections from developing contexts; and how to liaise research, practice and policies in the era of changing climate and increasing disaster risks>. Kyungshin Faye Lee, a Humanitarian Affair Specialist at Korean NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation (KCOC) shared her knowledge and experience about <Korean CSO practitioners’ perspectives, working on CCA & overall development projects to build resilient communities in development contexts>. Bapon Fakhruddin, a Water Sector Lead at Green Climate Fund stated important messages about <Current state & future directions of financial aid/investment policies and support for CCA and DRR>.