UNDRR News

Guatemala is demonstrating how risk-informed public finance can drive stronger national resilience.

Central America and the Dominican Republic face high disaster vulnerability. Investing in resilience is key: protect new infrastructure, strengthen existing assets, and plan for resilient recovery. The challenge: finance resilience, not disasters.

Under the South African Presidency, the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group held a two-part meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, culminating in a Ministerial Meeting on the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR).

This year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction calls to “Fund Resilience, Not Disasters.” AI through its ability to quickly ingest, process, and find patterns within vast, complex datasets – can help flag key factors across and within systems.

All that it takes is to put aside a little more funding for prevention and to assess investments against known risks.

The GAR 2025 highlights that direct disaster costs have grown to approximately $202 billion annually, and that the true costs could be over $2.3 trillion, when cascading and ecosystem costs are taken into account.

The Recovery Readiness Framework and Assessment Tool, provides countries with a structured way to identify and close critical gaps before the next disaster.

UNDRR is featured at the UN Pavilion at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, showcasing the message that “Disasters are not natural.” The display invites visitors to explore how to reduce disaster risk through smarter planning, investment, and risk-informed decisions.

This month from UNDRR: Fund Resilience, Not Disasters: IDDRR 2025 Campaign; Leaders convene in Japan; Climate Summit boost to COP30; Enhancing resilience in the Western Balkans; and much more to explore

A new three-year initiative aimed at boosting disaster and climate resilience in the Western Balkans was officially launched in Belgrade this week, with a focus on Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia.