Located at about 30 km from the Atlantic Ocean, on the low coastal plateau of Wouri Basin, in humid equatorial climate with nearly 4,000 mm of rainfall per year, Douala have nearly 3 million inhabitants and area of 886 squared km. This city is vulnerable to many natural hazards among which floods, landslides, soil erosion and washouts. In this context marked by the variety and severity of the vulnerability, the demographic, economic and political importance of this territory, the issue of sustainable development became paramount for the municipality, especially since the recurrence of damaging events showed the fragility of the urban system. Douala Urban Council (DUC) is officially responsible for the implementation of strategies aimed at integrating environmental concerns and sustainable development in city development strategies at the local level. Given the magnitude of the task and a limited budget, the legitimate concern of municipal authorities is to optimize risk management effectively targeting preventive measures. The CDS program, (City Development Strategy) developed by the city of Douala is born of this concern, with the main component of the development of local Agenda 21 as social and environmental aspects of this broad development strategy for the city and its metropolitan area in 2025.
This research has helped to assess and highlight the status of implementation of operational strategies to integrate environmental concerns and sustainable development policy in the city of Douala. By carefully analyzing this policy by its terms, its objectives, its resources and instruments. The challenge is to bring the taste of the potential factors of success and / or failure and the various benefits of this policy to enhance urban resilience to natural hazards.
Keywords : Urban vulnerability, resilience, natural hazards, sustainable development