On May 11-12, 2019, the “Belt and Road” International Conference on Disaster Prevention and Reduction and Sustainable Development was held in Beijing. The conference was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Science and Technology Association, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the “Belt and Road” international scientific organization alliance. Chengdu Institute of Mountain Disaster and Environment (IMDE) and IDMR of Sichuan University, with other 17 research institutes and universities co-organized the conference. Representatives from international organizations such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction, UNESCO, the International Mathematical and Geoscience Association, and the World Soil and Water Conservation Association, and scholars from countries along the “Belt and Road” , more than more than 780 experts in total participated in the conference.

Bai Chunli, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huang Runqiu, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Environment, Henrik Slotte, head of UNEP's Post-Conflict and Disaster, Mr Timothy Wilcox, Program Management Officer in the UNDRR Asia-Pacific Regional Office, International Geography Academician Fu Bojie, vice chairman of the Federation, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech. Mami Mizutori, who is the Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction in the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, delivered a video speech. During the meeting, 15 well-known experts, including the Executive Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Congress, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences Cui Peng, , gave an invited academic report.

This conference has a main venue and 24 branch venues, with the theme of "Jointly Building a Silk Road for Safety, Green and Sustainable Development" to discuss related topics such as disaster data sharing, disaster prevention and mitigation, and emergency management. etc. IDMR hosted the sub-forum "Cooperation Model of Higher Education for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction, Response and Post-disaster Reconstruction", which attracted more than 40 participants from China, Japan, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh, Uganda and other countries. Participants conducted academic reports, shared experiences and sparked ideas. During the meeting, Soichiro Yasukawa, a UNESCO project expert, and Jennifer McKinley, director of The EC & R Cluster of Northern Ireland, listened to the report and fully affirmed the role of IDMR in comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation. IDMR will continue playing an important role, as a platform to strengthen the cooperation with institutes and young scientists in interdisciplinary disaster research. At the same time, Mr. Soichiro Yasukawa and Ms. Jennifer McKinley present their own views on the cooperation that universities can take in the fields of disaster prevention, mitigation, emergency management and post-disaster reconstruction, which provoked positive discussion.

The conference achieved fruitful results. The Beijing Declaration was adopted at the meeting, and 4 scientific and technological action plans and 9 advancement measures were proposed to support the “Belt and Road” disaster risk prevention and management. At the same time, the International Alliance for Disaster Reduction Sciences, IMDE, IDMR and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, jointly sponsored “the International Scientific Alliance for Disaster Reduction” was formally established, Dean of IDMR, Gretchen Kalonji, is one of the sponsors of the alliance and participates in the design of the alliance.