The Incheon Metropolitan Government (Mayor Park Chan-dae) announced that the 2026 Incheon International Disaster Resilience Leaders Forum, held over two days from the 7th to the 8th at Songdo Convensia, concluded successfully with the participation of some 300 people from more than 30 countries. As climate change and urbanization make the disaster landscape ever more complex, the event brought the international community together to explore disaster response measures led by local governments and communities.
 [코리안투데이] The 2026 Incheon International Disaster Resilience Leaders Forum © 장형임 기자 |
Now in its fifth year, this forum was held under the theme of ‘Putting Locally Led Resilience Into Practice in an Era of Compound Risks and Digital Transformation.’ It was co-hosted by the Incheon Metropolitan Government, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and the Incheon Institute, with support from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Government and city officials from various countries, international organizations, and disaster safety experts from home and abroad attended to discuss ways to strengthen locally led disaster resilience in response to an increasingly complex disaster environment.
The forum opened with an opening ceremony and keynote address, followed by regular and special sessions. The sessions covered a range of topics, including preventing and managing compound disasters in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), risk-informed investment, recovery preparedness and infrastructure resilience, and how future generations — represented by local university students — view a city’s disaster resilience. Participants shared each city’s policies and cases as they worked together to find ways to translate disaster risk into concrete policy and investment.
In particular, to respond to the compound risks intensified by climate change and urbanization — as seen in the recent large-scale flooding and landslide damage in Nepal — participants held in-depth discussions on how to put locally led resilience centered on local governments and communities into practice. They agreed on the need to build early warning systems using digital technologies such as AI and data, and to strengthen cooperation between nations and cities, so as to enhance disaster prevention and rapid recovery capacity in regions vulnerable to the climate crisis.
At the forum, Incheon introduced its own policy cases under the theme of Risk-Informed Investments for Local Resilience. Its approach of using risk information to set priorities for projects and budgets — through investment in flood prevention facilities and rainwater retention facilities, detection of warning signs using CCTV and IoT, and safety inspections of high-risk facilities — drew attention from participants as an example of turning disaster response from a slogan into substantive investment.
The forum demonstrated that discussions on disaster safety need not stop at listing administrative achievements, but can lead to safety that citizens actually feel. Since strengthening early warning and preventive investment can reduce loss of life and property, sharing experiences within the international community is directly connected to the everyday safety of Incheon’s citizens.
Nam Young-hee, Vice Mayor for Balanced Development, said, ‘Today’s disasters are becoming more complex and harder to predict due to climate change and urbanization,’ adding, ‘I hope the experience and wisdom shared at this forum will lead to real change in each city. Incheon, too, will work with the international community to enhance local resilience and build a safe city where citizens can feel at ease.’
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