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This month from UNDRR: UNDRR's Annual Report 2025, stories on digital risk, disability inclusion, urban resilience, and extreme heat and much more inside.
Release of UNDRR’s Annual Report 2025
In May, UNDRR released its Annual Report 2025, delivering a comprehensive look at the progress made over the last year in shifting the disaster risk landscape towards a more preventative approach. As noted by the Head of UNDRR and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Kamal Kishore: “We are navigating a period of uncertainty, with multilateral institutions under unprecedented strain. Yet the groundwork laid in 2025 gives us a strong springboard from which to accelerate action.” Key highlights of the report were presented to an audience of diplomats at an event held at the residence of the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations in Geneva.
Safeguarding against a "Digital Pandemic"
As the world becomes more dependent on digital systems, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UNDRR and Sciences Po partnered to launch a report that calls for coordinated action to improve digital resilience in the face of natural hazards and their cascading impacts. Titled "When Digital Systems Fail: The Hidden Risks of Our Digital World," the expert report warns that critical vulnerabilities in interconnected digital infrastructure could trigger a “digital pandemic” through widespread digital system collapses. Examples of cascading risk scenarios include solar storms disrupting satellites, volcanic eruptions cutting submarine cables, and extreme heat affecting data centers.
Advancing gender and disability-inclusive risk knowledge in Burundi
Burundi faces multiple natural hazards, including floods, landslides, droughts, and epidemics, but their exact impact on different populations is unclear. To address this, UNDRR’s Regional Office for Africa provided technical support to enhance the availability and use of disaggregated data in Burundi to understand disaster impacts on women, youth, and persons with disabilities. This knowledge is key to the implementation of the Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4All) and to monitoring progress under the Sendai Framework Monitor.
MCR2030 in the Caribbean is localizing resilience from the Island States to Guyana
In collaboration with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) of Guyana and local leaders, UNDRR is supporting the cities of Georgetown and Lethem in enhancing their resilience under the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative. This targeted support has fostered in both cities a greater appreciation of shared responsibilities among local stakeholders, an improved understanding of disaster risks, and a common space for collaboration to reduce risks.
The work in Guyana builds on UNDRR’s expanded support to local municipalities in the Caribbean under MCR2030. Since 2024, UNDRR has provided capacity-building to the cities of St. John's (Antigua and Barbuda), St. Joseph (Barbados), St. James (Jamaica), and Old Road (St. Kitts and Nevis). As a result, across the four locations, over 100 participants from government, the private sector, development partners, civil society, and local communities have been trained to apply the MCR2030 tools and develop local resilience actions.
How Barcelona fostered a resilience ecosystem for small businesses
In 2024, the Spanish city of Barcelona became one of the pilot cities for UNDRR’s Strengthening the Disaster Resilience of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) initiative. Since then, the city has built a resilience ecosystem for small businesses. This includes the development of a baseline Landscape Assessment Study, creating tailored capacity-building tools - including for Business Continuity Planning - and conducting tabletop crisis simulations. The city experience can serve as a model for others and shows that building resilience is a continuous process that requires multiple partnerships.
Nominations are open for WIN DRR Leadership Awards 2026
The nominations for the 2026 Women’s International Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (WIN DRR) Leadership Awards are now open. The awards celebrate exceptional women across the Asia-Pacific region who are advancing disaster risk reduction through leadership, innovation and impact.
Individuals can nominate themselves or others for the following two categories:
- Rising Star Award (US$ 7,500): for women early in their career who are already making meaningful contributions through their work and show great potential for future growth.
- Excellence Award (US$ 10,000): for women who have achieved exceptional professional success in DRR or disaster resilience over a sustained career (typically more than 10 years).
The deadline for nominations is 26 July 2026. Please refer to the full notice for the complete set of eligibility guidelines and nomination forms.
Getting ahead of extreme heat
As global temperatures are forecasted to stay near record levels, the need to proactively manage heat-related risks across sectors is increasingly important for saving lives, livelihoods and sustainable development. To that end, UNDRR’s PreventionWeb editors have published three compilation pieces capturing some of the most interesting articles on the knowledge platform on the subjects of:
- Understanding the trends of heat risk.
- Effect of heat on interdependent water and energy systems.
- How buildings can adapt to extreme heat.
More examples and topics can be found on PreventionWeb’s new Extreme Heat Portal, which connects evidence, guidance, tools, and real-world solutions to support informed understanding and effective action on heat risk.
Save the date: Europe and Central Asia’s RP2027
The Europe and Central Asia Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2027 (RP2027) will take place 25–27 May 2027 and will be hosted by the Government of Romania in Bucharest. To inform the agenda, a regional consultation process will be launched in September 2026. Further information on the programme, registration, and logistical arrangements will be posted in due course.