Build with resiliency so we don't have to build twice.

That's the message of PCA Chairman of the Board Aris Papadopoulos, Titan America, who also heads the Private Sector Advisory Group of UNISDR, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Papadopoulos made his remarks yesterday at the four-day Corporate Sustainability Forum, held in advance of Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro set to begin tomorrow.

"To me, the conversation on sustainability was missing one element – resilience. Urbanization investment over the next 20 to 30 years will exceed all such investment made so far in human history. It's very important that this investment be resilient so we don't have to build twice," he said.

More than 1,000 business executives gathered for the Forum, which will present recommendations on June 21 at the Rio+20 conference.

"My passion is disaster risk reduction." Papadopoulos told the Forum. "Disaster losses can take back 20 years of development progress. It's a tremendously important issue."

What is RIO+20?

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) also known as the "Earth Summit," was an important milestone that brought environment and development issues into the public arena.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development convened "Rio+20," which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 20-22.

Disaster risk reduction has been included as part of the new and emerging issues in Rio+20 after the issue had been raised by UN member states, UN agencies, political groups, and others.

For more on the Forum, visit the UNISDR website.