We are not powerless in the face of mounting disaster risk. As societies shift from managing disasters to managing disaster risk, robust risk governance is needed to address the underlying drivers of exposure and vulnerability: poverty and inequality, environmental degradation, rapid and unplanned urbanization, weak building codes, and population growth in hazard-exposed areas.
Good disaster risk governance can be measured by lives saved, fewer people affected, and reduced economic losses. This is why one of the four priorities for action in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 is Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk.
As disasters cross borders, sectors, and scales, building resilience in the face of interconnected risks requires breaking down silos and recognizing that governance is a shared responsibility:
- Governments and Public Institutions must integrate disaster and climate risk into all development and fiscal policies, establish national and local DRR strategies, and ensure ministries and agencies coordinate across silos.
- Parliamentarians play a vital role in enacting and enforcing legislation that mandates DRR and climate integration, allocating budgets for resilience, and providing oversight and accountability.
- Local Authorities are on the frontline, responsible for developing and implementing local resilience strategies, engaging communities directly, and ensuring that risk information informs planning, zoning, and infrastructure investment.
Crucially, inclusive governance matters: when women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, civil society, and the private sector have a seat at the table, risk governance is more effective, equitable, and sustainable.
Designed for policy-makers and practitioners, this Words into Action offers practical guidance on reducing risks associated with both natural and manmade hazards, including biological ones.
10 steps are recommended to guide and support the development of a national DRR. They are not prescriptive or rigid.
Comprehensive Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CRM) brings together disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate adaptation in a single, unified approach.This approach leverages climate data, risk analysis, and local context to develop national and subnational strategies that protect people, ecosystems, and economies.
What we do
Supporting national DRR strategies
National strategies are the backbone of multi-hazard risk governance. They translate political commitment into concrete action, enabling governments to turn risk knowledge into policies and programmes that save lives, protect livelihoods, and mobilize resources. These strategies establish a clear vision, set priorities, and allocate responsibilities across sectors, ensuring coherence between disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, and sustainable development. By embedding risk considerations into policies, investments, and development agendas, they make resilience a core part of national planning. By the end of 2024, 131 Member States had reported national DRR strategies, with 30 countries receiving direct support from UNDRR to develop or revise them.
Figure 1: Number of countries reporting having national DRR strategies. Source: Sendai Framework Monitor (SFM), October 2024
Figure 2. Number of countries reporting local DRR strategies. Source: SMF, October 2024
Strengthening local DRR and resilience strategies
Local governments are at the frontline of risk management. Through initiatives such as Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030), UNDRR equips municipalities with the tools and capacity to develop inclusive resilience strategies, embed risk information into planning and zoning, and directly engage with communities to strengthen preparedness and reduce vulnerabilities. Governance as the foundation of Comprehensive Risk Management.
Protection of Persons in the Event of Disasters
In 2024, the General Assembly decided through its resolution 79/128, to elaborate and conclude a legally binding instrument on the protection of persons in the event of disasters (PPED) by the end of 2027. Incorporating DRR into a Convention would complement and reinforce the commitment shown by Member States through the Sendai Framework, the Hyogo Framework and the Yokohama Strategy, enshrining the duty to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risk in international law. More information
Supporting national coordination mechanisms for DRR
National coordination mechanisms—also known as National Platforms for DRR—are at the heart of strong disaster risk governance. By convening government institutions, civil society, the private sector, academia, and communities, these platforms provide an inclusive forum for aligning national priorities with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. They ensure that diverse perspectives and expertise inform policies, guide decision-making, and shape budget allocations.
Through dialogue and collaboration, National Platforms foster trust, strengthen accountability and ownership, and create the enabling environment needed to institutionalize risk-informed development. With around 105 national platforms officially designated to date, momentum is growing—but more efforts are needed to scale up, resource, and empower these mechanisms so that countries can address emerging challenges such as climate change impacts and systemic risks, and achieve disaster and climate resilience.
Comprehensive Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CRM)
UNDRR promotes Comprehensive Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CRM), which integrates disaster, climate, and development concerns into a single governance framework. CRM requires governments to plan across ministries, scales, and timelines—anticipating risks, reducing vulnerabilities, preparing for emergencies, and ensuring resilient recovery. Risk governance is what makes CRM possible: by defining roles and responsibilities, aligning budgets and policies, and fostering participation, governments can move from fragmented risk management to comprehensive, systemic solutions.
Risk governance in financing and recovery
UNDRR works with governments and financial institutions to make financing frameworks risk-informed—from budget tagging of DRR expenditures to resilience bonds and risk-informed investment planning. Governance also underpins readiness for resilient recovery, ensuring that countries have the institutional arrangements, legislation, and financing systems in place to rebuild better after disasters.
Inclusive governance
UNDRR champions inclusive governance as a driver of resilience. This means ensuring that women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups participate meaningfully in risk governance processes. In practice, this includes:
- Developing gender-responsive national and local DRR strategies.
- Supporting inclusive early warning systems that reach all, including women persons with disabilities.
- Embedding diverse voices into global governance processes through the Sendai Stakeholder Engagement Mechanism (SEM)
- Equipping media and civil society to act as trusted messengers and watchdogs, bridging the gap between institutions and communities.
Risk governance for extreme heat
Extreme heat is the deadliest of all climate-related hazards, yet governance systems for heat risk remain fragmented. Most existing Heat Action Plans (HAPs) focus narrowly on short-term preparedness and health response, with limited attention to long-term resilience, financing, or cross-sectoral coordination. Responding to the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 Call to Action on Extreme Heat, UNDRR is working with WMO and the Global Heat Health Information Network to strengthen governance for heat resilience. This includes promoting national and local frameworks that set standards for HAPs, clarifying institutional roles, embedding sustainable funding mechanisms, and ensuring multi-sectoral coordination across health, infrastructure, urban planning, energy, and social services.
