November 2018, Barcelona, Spain -- The Lord Mayor of the capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, Albert Sandy Daniel, and the Head of UN-Habitat’s Urban Basic Services Branch, André Dzikus, signed a Letter of Agreement (LoA) on 12 November to implement the City Resilience Profiling Tool (CRPT), a key UN-Habitat’s tool for building resilience at the urban scale.

UN-Habitat’s Head of the City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP), which implements the CRPT, Esteban Leon said: “As a city facing numerous resilience challenges, natural and manmade, the commitment of Port Vila to resilience brings added value and new perspectives to the Making Cities Sustainable and Resilience action.”

The parties discussed the importance of building resilience and for the Port Vila Municipal Council (PVMC) to lead in addressing problems affecting Port Vila including climate change, natural hazards, and the growth of informal settlements.

The signing of the agreement coincided with the Lord Mayor’s participation in the Barcelona Resilience Week and the Smart City Expo World Congress. As well as taking part in the dialogue on Climate Action and Resilience with representatives from Italy, Spain, and Russia, the Lord Mayor held bilateral discussions with other cities and the UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Programme team, which hosted Barcelona Resilience Week.

While initial engagement between the PVMC and UN-Habitat has started with data collection and a workshop in Port Vila in September, the LoA represents an official commitment from both parties to fully implement the CRPT. The implementation will conclude with recommended actions, collaboratively developed, focused on making Port Vila more resilient.