FORUM: "Your window to the world." World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2025. This year is a special as audiovisual archives around the world commemorate the 20th anniversary of WDAVH in raising awareness of the importance and urgency of protecting audiovisual materials to ensure their long-term availability and accessibility. Audiovisual documentary heritage opens a window to the world through the generations of incredibly unique stories. They reveal the ingenuity of the human spirit and vision, the spectacular lessons learnt from the diversity of cultures, that generate inspiration and creativity. In a world now wrought by insularity and struggling with the pain of war, moving images, aural and oral recordings are effective tools to bridge differences, bringing about much needed empathy, compassion and encouragement. You can be a part of this preservation movement. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #WorldDayforAudiovisualHeritage, #WDAH, #audiovisual ,#27october, #AudiovisualHeritageDay#AudiovisualHeritage.
On Thursday 23 October, From 16:00 to19:00 at UNESCO Cinema, 7 Place de Fontenoy in Paris; was held the 20th anniversary of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage; On this special occasion, have been showcased a selection of newly digitized films from the UNESCO Archives thanks to the support of UNESCO Member States France and Monaco. The Co-ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA) have also presented films from around the world shared by its member organizations. This celebration emphasizes the importance of preserving the world’s audiovisual heritage by highlighting a rich selection of unique audiovisual archives. Powerful films and unseen footage that embody UNESCO’s and CCAAA’s core values, alongside brief talks by members of UNESCO and CCAAA. The screening will end with a question-and-answer period inviting lively discussions with the public about the preservation and impact of audiovisual archives. The event is free of charge.Seating is limited and registration is required. Click here to take part in the event. For further information, please contact info@ccaaa.org to help you. Registration.
COMMUNICATION MATERIALS: Use the poster and video for reaching out to different communities. Share about the events you are organising on and around October 27th. Enable the motivation to contribute time, expertise, effort to save the extraordinary audiovisual legacy for posterity.
FORUM: “Charting New Directions: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Development.” World Development Information Day 2025. The Commitment to Development Index ranks 40 of the world’s most powerful countries on their dedication to policies that affect more than five billion people living in poorer nations. The CDI scores countries relative to their size and economic weight to measure countries according to their potential to help. CDI Countries range from middle to high-income; to level the playing field, we have an option to income-adjust, or rank relative to income-predicted scores. Sweden takes first place. France is second and Norway is in third place. Sweden and France also top the environment component, each applying a relatively high price to carbon and Sweden has relatively low emissions per head. The US ranks 22nd, with strong contributions on security and trade, but low scores on diffusing technology and safeguarding the environment. It scores ahead of China, which ranks 36th, but behind most EU countries, who take 6 of the top 10 spots. Follow the conversations with the hashtags #DevinfoDay, #Development, #macroeconomics, #DevelopmentIndex; #24October.
On the 80th anniversary of the signing of the charter of the United Nations, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) convenes a Global Policy Dialogue, "Charting New Directions: Shaping the Future of Sustainable Development."
Here, members of the UN High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs (HLAB) will explore different avenues for achieving and maintaining inclusive, sustainable, and forward-looking development towards and beyond 2030. In three thematic panels, leading experts will share insights on reimagining economics to foster social inclusion, identify emerging trends that will shape the decades ahead, and envision the future of sustainable development in light of global transformations. The event seeks to showcase how global cooperation can accelerate progress, strengthen resilience, and ensure that no one is left behind. This dialogue is made possible by the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.
These are not just the opening words of the United Nations Charter – they define who we are.
The United Nations is more than an institution. It is a living promise – spanning borders, bridging continents, inspiring generations.
For eighty years, we have worked to forge peace, tackle poverty and hunger, advance human rights, and build a more sustainable world – together.
As we look ahead, we confront challenges of staggering scale: escalating conflicts, climate chaos, runaway technologies, and threats to the very fabric of our institution.
This is no time for timidity or retreat.
Now, more than ever, the world must recommit to solving problems no nation can solve alone.
On this UN Day, let’s stand together and fulfil the extraordinary promise of your United Nations.
Let’s show the world what is possible when “we the peoples” choose to act as one.
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General.
This commemorative event seeks to reaffirm the founding values of the United Nations and consider how current practices within the UN system can more fully reflect them—particularly as the international communityreviews the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and prepares for the Second World Summit for Social Development. As Member States look ahead to future outcomes, revisiting the UN's founding, offers both clarity and a common vision.
At a moment of increasing polarization, this event aims to ensure that multilateralism remains anchored in the UN's original mission—to uphold human dignity, preserve peace, and to protect human life, including future generations—while also providing Member States and civil society with a meaningful platform for dialogue and the pursuit of common goals.
Objective of the Event
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the UN by highlighting its founding values and reflect on the original vision laid out in the UN Charter.
To offer respectful, constructive perspectives on how today's UN system might realign with these principles.
To reaffirm the central importance of the dignity of the human person as we prepare for the World Summit in Doha.
The UN Regional Commissions and UN Statistics Division invite you to a global 24-hour webinar marathon, featuring voices, stories, and innovations from every region. Following by Live sessionsshowcasing national and regional initiatives in official statistics. Innovations in data — new methodologies, technologies, and partnerships making data more accessible and impactful. Country spotlights on how statistics drive progress toward development goals. Panel discussions with statistical leaders, data scientists, and policymakers. Quizzes, competitions, and polls to keep the energy high. Interactive Q&A sessions — your chance to join the conversation, wherever you are in the world.*
World Statistics Day is an occasion marked once every five years to spotlight the vital role of statistics in helping to address the challenges of our time. The Sustainable Development Goals have helped transform statistical systems and increase the availability of data. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, statistical systems proved their resilience, delivering the data that guided life-saving decisions as well as social and economic recovery. As we confront increasingly inter-connected global challenges – from climate change to rising inequalities – timely, accurate, disaggregated, and independent data has never been more essential. This year’s observance reaffirms our commitment to the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics: impartiality, professionalism, and commitment to scientific principles and professional ethics. Citizens everywhere deserve trustworthy data to inform public policy and strengthen accountability. Let us use this day to champion the power of data in advancing sustainable development for all.
Dear Chief Statisticians, Dear Colleagues,
I warmly invite you to join the global celebration of World Statistics Day on 20
October 2025.
Celebrated every five years, this day recognizes the vital role of official statistics in
informing decisions at all levels — from governments to individuals.
This year’s theme, “Quality statistics and data for everyone,” reflects our shared
commitment to producing and sharing high-quality, timely, and trusted data.
At the heart of this mission are the national statistical offices.
You are the backbone of our statistical systems — upholding professional standards,
ensuring data quality, and delivering evidence that informs national and global action.
You translate complex realities into meaningful numbers, provide continuity amid
change, and safeguard the integrity of data.
Since the endorsement of the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics by the
United Nations General Assembly in 2014, our community has made great strides in upholding
relevance, impartiality, scientific rigour, and transparency.
These principles, along with legal frameworks and quality assurance systems, underpin
the integrity of official statistics.
Alongside you, we, too, will be observing World Statistics Day.
2
At the global level, the commemoration will feature a 24-hour webinar marathon, moving
across time zones, showcasing the work of national, regional, and international statistical
systems.
During the marathon, we will spotlight innovations across the statistical landscape —
from the integration of new data sources and AI, to advances in methods that help us measure
today’s complex realities, including inequality, climate change, and the digital economy.
We will also hear about efforts to expand data access and usability, ensuring no one is
left behind.
Dear Colleagues,
Official statistics are a public good — essential, but not without cost.
I thank governments and partners for their support and call for continued investment in
the statistical infrastructure.
As we modernize, we must also build robust data governance frameworks to enable
greater use of administrative and alternative data sources.
At the same time, traditional tools like censuses and surveys remain indispensable, where
we continue to need active engagement from the people we serve.
Two major global frameworks, both adopted earlier this year by the Statistical
Commission, reflect our continuing journey:
• The 2025 System of National Accounts, updated to reflect the realities of globalization
and digitalization, ensuring comparability and relevance in economic statistics.
• The 2030 World Population and Housing Census Programme, which will yield
essential disaggregated data for policy, planning, and monitoring of well-being.
I thank all national statistical offices, regional and international partners, and users for
contributing to World Statistics Day.
Let us use this occasion to reaffirm our collective mission: delivering high-quality
statistics to serve everyone, everywhere.
Every UN World Data Forum has resulted in the release of an outcome document to chart the progress of discussions around data and statistics and express the ambitions of the stakeholder community. The Cape Town Global Action Plan (CTGAP) was launched at the first UN World Data Forum on where to focus statistical and data capacity development efforts to establish the full range of reporting and monitoring needed to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The CTGAP was followed by the Dubai Declaration (2018) calling for an innovative funding mechanism to support the implementation of the CTGAP; and more recently the Global data community’s response to Covid-19 (2020) and Bern Data Compact for the Decade of Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (2021) on how official statistics and National Statistical Offices (NSOs) position themselves during Covid-19 and then in the wider data ecosystem generally. At the most recent Forums held as the fourth and fifth in April 2023 and November 2024, the Hangzhou Declaration was launched to recommit the global community to accelerating progress in the implementation of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development (CTGAP) and provided the foundation for the launch of the Medellín Framework for Action on Data for Sustainable Development. The Framework represents a second-generation document founded on the original CTGAP, reflecting the aspirations of the wider stakeholder base fostered by the Forum over the past seven years and marking the milestone that the Forum has now been hosted in all regions of the World.
The next Forum is planned in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to take place between 9 and 12 November 2026. Share your views on the upcoming 2026 United Nations World Datat Forum programme, complete the Community Survey. The information collected from the community survey will help shape the Call for Programme Proposals announcement which will be launched at the end of November 2025 and remain open until Monday, 12 January 2026.
From control to care: Design services that start with trust. Reduce punitive conditionalities, streamline documentation, and prioritize respectful, person-centred interactions.
From surveillance to support: Rebalance investments away from monitoring and removal toward family-strengthening services: income support, quality childcare, adequate housing, mental health care, parenting support, and access to justice.
From top-down to co-created solutions: Involve families living in poverty at every stage—assessment, design, budgeting, delivery, and evaluation—so policies reflect real needs and constraints.
Too often, people living in poverty are blamed, stigmatised, and pushed into the shadows.
Yet poverty is not a personal failure; it is a systemic failure – a denial of dignity and human rights.
This year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty calls on us all to stop the social and institutional maltreatment of people living in poverty – and to honour the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate poverty in all its forms, everywhere.
That requires policies that leave no one behind: affordable health care and housing; decent work and fair wages; universal social protection; food security; quality education; and financing that works for countries and communities.
On this International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, let’s reject stigma and discrimination. Let’s stand with people living in poverty, and act with solidarity to end poverty for good.
On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) renews its resolve to eradicate poverty and advance shared prosperity. This year’s theme, “Ending social and institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families”, reminds us of the need to uphold the dignity of every family.
The 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative reveals that nearly 80 percent of the world's multidimensionally poor people - 887 million individuals - now live in areas exposed to at least one major climate hazard: high heat, drought, floods, or air pollution. Some 650 million poor people face two or more hazards at the same time.
This new MPI matters because it allows us to see poverty as people live it: income poverty and lack of choices compounded by climate risk and inequality. Poverty is about more than not having enough money. It also means not having access to basic services or support systems. Therefore, UNDP works with countries to build institutions that people can trust and that help families through social protection, quality services, and climate action.
Ending poverty in all its forms, everywhere, remains a defining promise of our time. It is one we can keep by ensuring that every family can live with dignity, security, and the power to shape its own future.
Haoliang Xu, UNDP Acting Administrator and Associate Administrator.
LIVESTREAM: Family policies must be an integral part of overall development efforts and leveraged in achieving many of the interrelated Sustainable Development Goals (poverty eradication, food security, quality healthcare and education, gender equality, social inclusion, decent work/social protection, just and peaceful institutions.) Families are active agents in development. Therefore, their experiential knowledge and insight must be sought out and included to ensure effective support to lift people out of poverty and create a more just and equitable society. The 2025 commemoration will focus on ensuring respect and effective support for families. We need to better understand why poverty persists and why despite all the efforts made by parents, their children continue to experience the same deprivation. We need to better understand the reality of poverty as experienced by the people affected, so that appropriate support can be actioned. By focusing on families, we continue to highlight the hidden dimensions of poverty — in particular the social and institutional maltreatment they suffer in their daily lives, including situations of family separation due to poverty, and the pressing need to end it. Related Documents: Concept note and final programme
Throughout October a wide variety of events and activities are taking place during the World Food Week in Rome offering opportunities to learn, engage, and be part of the global movement for food security and sustainability.
LIVESTREAM
Celebrate World Food Day with the leaders of the Rome-based UN agencies and special guests including His Holiness Pope Leo XIV; Her Majesty the Queen of Spain and His Majesty the King of Lesotho — also FAO Special Ambassadors for Nutrition; and, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, with a special message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Join us for the inauguration of the Food and Agriculture Museum and Network on the morning of World Food Day, with the participation of Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, QU Dongyu, and the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella.
Chef Fatmata Binta will be designated as an FAO Regional Goodwill Ambassador for Africa by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu followed by the presentation of the FAO Achievement Award that recognises the outstanding performance of institutions that have created true impact in the efficient execution of programmes related to FAO's work.
Join us at sunset on 16 October for a powerful visual experience marking FAO's 80th anniversary. A new lighting ceremony will illuminate the new FAO gardens and façade of FAO headquarters, delivering a global call to action. Following the lighting ceremony, the Food and Agriculture Museum and Network will open its doors to guests for an exclusive evening preview. The evening will conclude with a reception.
PUBLICATION: The State of Food and Nutrition in the World 2025.Addressing high food price inflation for food security and nutrition. This report is the annual global monitoring report for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 targets 2.1 and 2.2 – to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. It presents the latest updated numbers on hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as new estimates on the affordability of a healthy diet. Previous editions have highlighted several major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition including economic shocks, extreme weather events, the COVID-19 pandemic and conflict. While there have been signs of recovery in recent years, recent food price inflation affecting countries globally, has slowed this progress. This year’s report examines the impact of food price inflation on food security and nutrition. It includes analyses on the effects of food price inflation on different food groups and on the affordability of healthy diets. Analysis of country policy responses to food price inflation reveal patterns of successful policy interventions that have helped countries mitigate the impacts of inflation on food security and nutrition. While global efforts have become more effective, disparities across regions persist. The report reaffirms that food price inflation, though persistent, is not insurmountable. Building resilience will require sustained investments, stronger policy coordination, increased transparency, prioritization of nutritious diets, and ongoing institutional innovation.
Between 638 and 720 million people faced hunger in 2024. The FAO’s Hunger Map sheds light on the prevalence of undernourishment and food insecurity in each country.
From 1-17 October 2025 will be held the “17 Days of Activism for the Empowerment of Rural Women Leaders and their Communities.” The “Rural women, women with rights” campaign, convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is a collaborative work initiative that joins efforts, articulates networks, and disseminates knowledge and positive experiences to promote the full autonomy of women in the rural world. Since 2016, this campaign has articulated government entities, civil society organizations and United Nations agencies around regional and national political advocacy actions, in favor of the empowerment of rural women.
On this International Day of Rural Women, we call for bold action to advance the equality, rights, and empowerment of women and girls living in rural settings. Every day, they feed communities, protect the environment, and power sustainable development. Investing in them is both an act of justice and a safeguard for our shared future.
Amid these challenges, Verene Ntakirutimana’s story from Rwanda demonstrates how empowering women in rural settings creates tangible, lasting change. With support from the Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment, she transitioned from subsistence farming to a thriving small business. Her success shifted community attitudes: challenging stereotypes, promoting shared decision-making, and inspiring others to follow her example.
When rural women rise, fields flourish, families thrive, and societies transform, propelling us toward the vision of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the SDGs.
FORUM: "Keep Your hands clean.'' Global Handwashing Day 2025. Hand hygiene saves lives—but 2 Billions people still lack access at home To accelerate progress, the WorldBank supported WHO & UNICEF in launching global hand hygiene guidelines to help governments expand access & drive lasting change.
In 2025, WHO celebrates 17 years of this global campaign.
One of the WHO indicators is hand hygiene compliance monitoring and feedback established as a key national indicator, at the very least in all reference hospitals by 2026.
Additionally, the WHO Framework for Action 2024-2030 focused on WASH, waste and electricity services highlights the need for universal safe access to ensure quality of care (linked to climate and health), including by integrating WASH and waste requirements into health system planning, programming, financing, implementation and monitoring, which can in part be supported by IPC efforts.
Therefore, it is recognized and reinforced that at this time countries and health care facilities should continue to highly prioritize optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) alongside appropriate glove use, including through greater awareness and supported by IPC practitioners as part of an IPC team and programme.
Objectives
Promote optimal hand hygiene practices (using the appropriate technique and according to the WHO 5 Moments) and the times for appropriate glove use within the health care workflow.
Promote inclusion of hand hygiene within national IPC strategies, as well as standard operating procedures (SOPs) at facility level, according to the recommendations of the WHO global action plan and monitoring framework 2024-2030.
Raise awareness of the environmental and climate impact of gloves on waste generation and management, especially when used unnecessarily.
ADVOCACY MATERIALS: Don't forget to use #handhygiene with your campaign related posts. Get the advocacy toolkit! All assets: There is a wide range of campaign materials available in the six official UN languages ready for download.
EVENT: On October 13th. For the observance of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025; the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is calling on the world to #FundResilienceNotDisasters. Countries are facing more record-breaking disasters. This is driven by an increase in extreme
weather events and by development decisions that are not risk-informed, which increases the
exposure and vulnerability of people and economic assets to a range of hazards.
Disasters are becoming significantly more expensive. While direct disaster costs have grown
to approximately $202 billion annually, the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk
Reduction 2025 estimates that the true cost, is 11 times higher at nearly $2.3 trillion.
Developing countries bear the brunt of these impacts due to their smaller economies, even
though developed countries suffer the most expensive disasters in absolute value. At the same time, investments in disaster risk reduction (DRR) have not kept pace with
increasing disaster risks. This was one of the key findings from the Midterm Review of the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and a reason why many countries have been
unable to reduce disaster impacts.
In governments, often less than 1% of public budgets is allocated to DRR, which in most
countries is only enough to meet 10 to 25% of the risk reduction needs. Moreover,
international funding for DRR from developed countries has also been limited and, in some
cases, decreasing, despite this funding being critical to protecting development progress and
reducing humanitarian needs.
According to UNDRR analysis, between 2019 and 2023, only 2% of Official Development
Assistance projects listed DRR as an objective. Within the humanitarian sector, the amount of
funding for disaster prevention and preparedness has gone down over the years – from an
already low level of 3.6% between 2015 and 2018, to 3.3% between 2019 and 2023. Adding to the problem, most economic and investment plans remain blind to disaster risks.
This is especially common in the private sector, which is responsible for about 75% of
investments through the creation of economic assets. When these investment decisions, be they public or private, fail to account for climate and
disaster risks, they not only put the investments at risk of loss from disasters, but could also
lead to the creation of new disaster risks. We see this, for instance, through the expansion of
urban development into hazard-prone areas or the construction of infrastructure that is not
disaster-resilient.
Closing this blind gap in the public sector requires aligning national economic plans with
disaster risk reduction strategies and climate change adaptation plans so that development
is risk-informed and resilient. For the private sector, the use of regulations, risk information,
and the offering of financial incentives can encourage businesses to make risk-informed
decisions. Register to participate!
As the climate crisis accelerates, disasters are multiplying and amplifying - devastating lives and livelihoods, erasing decades of development gains in an instant. The cost to the global economy is staggering: an estimated $2 trillion every year, when indirect costs are taken into account.
Yet funding to reduce repercussions remains dangerously low. Just 2% of development assistance and often less than 1% of government budgets are dedicated to disaster risk reduction. That's not just a gap - it is a miscalculation. Every dollar invested in resilient infrastructure in developing countries saves $4 when disasters strike.
The theme of this year's International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction reminds us of the imperative to fund resilience. Governments and donors must scale-up investments in disaster risk reduction. The public and private sectors must integrate risk into every decision - to reduce exposure and vulnerability to hazards. And resilience must be embedded into the foundations of development.
On this Day, let's commit to meet surging risk with a surge in funds, and build a safer and more equitable future for all.
In the 10 years since the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, countries have made significant strides in building their resilience. The number of countries with national Disaster Risk Reduction strategies has doubled, as has the number of countries with reported early warning systems.
The result is that more lives are being saved, with disaster mortality cut by half over the past decade. We should all be proud of this progress.
However, we can't afford to be complacent. While fewer people are dying, more people than ever are being affected by disasters, and the economic cost of disasters is breaking new records.
To reverse these trends, countries must accelerate the full implementation of the Sendai Framework in the remaining five years. This requires prioritising financing for resilience.
This means two distinct actions:First, increasing funding for disaster risk reduction and building resilience, especially within national budgets and international assistance. As humanitarian needs rise while global assistance funds decline, investing in disaster risk reduction becomes paramount to reducing future needs. Second, we need to ensure that public and private sector investments are guided by an understanding of climate and disaster risks. Ensuring that all development is risk-informed will not only prevent the creation of new disaster risks, but will also help protect these investments from being lost to disasters.
Disasters are neither natural nor inevitable. And even in the face of a growing climate crisis, we can put a stop to spirals of growing disaster losses.
All that it takes is to put aside a little more funding for prevention and to assess investments against known risks. These two actions alone will save billions of dollars and help us protect lives, livelihoods, and sustainable development, now and into the future.
Thank you.
Every year, disasters cost the world an estimated $2.3 trillion — eleven times higher than direct economic losses. But we can change this.
Why invest in resilience?
• Disasters are a growing threat to economic prosperity and sustainable development,
with costs underestimated and unsustainable.
• Disaster costs are pushing countries into spirals of increased debt, lower incomes,
increased insurability, and repeated humanitarian crises.
• Declining international assistance makes it even more critical to reduce disaster
losses through disaster risk reduction investments.
• Cutting funding for disaster risk reduction leads to more expensive disasters in the
future, along with more humanitarian needs.
• To reduce disaster costs, countries must increase funding for disaster risk reduction
and ensure all development investments are risk-informed.
Benefits of resilience
• Resilience pays dividends, but only when countries invest in it.
- Every $1 invested in making infrastructure disaster-resilient in developing
countries saves $4 in economic impacts (World Bank).
- By investing in strengthening early warning systems, the Global Commission on
Adaptation found that early warnings, issued within 24 hours of an impending
hazard, can reduce the damage by around 30%.
- Investments in anticipatory action and enhancing social safety nets can help
communities bounce back swiftly after disasters.
• Investing in resilience has benefits across the Humanitarian-Development nexus – it
reduces disaster losses, protects development, and reduces humanitarian needs.
How to fund resilience?
• Increase funding for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in national
budgets and international assistance (development and humanitarian).
- Domestic funding for disaster risk reduction should be “ring-fenced” in national
budgets and mainstreamed into sectoral budgets. Tools such as budget tagging
and the development of national DRR financing strategies can help.
- Countries with high vulnerability to disasters, such as the Least Developed
Countries, Small Island Developing States, countries in Africa, and countries that
are fragile and conflict-affected, deserve increased international assistance.
• Ensure development is risk-informed.
- Development plans should be aligned with disaster risk reduction priorities.
Otherwise, development investments that are risk-blind could lead to the
creation of new disaster risks or exacerbate existing ones, thus increasing the
odds of a disaster.
• Encourage the private sector to be resilient.
- Businesses should be incentivised to ensure their investments are riskinformed, as they are responsible for the majority of development in countries.
- The financial sector can develop instruments for financing resilience, such as
bonds and insurance, and support government efforts through public-private
partnerships and blended finance.
TAKE ACTION: Advancing
DRR.
• National Governments: Policymakers and budget planners are expected to prioritize
DRR funding in national budgets and ensure development plans are risk-informed.
• Private Sector Leaders: Businesses, investors, and financial institutions are called to
incorporate risk considerations into their investment decisions and support DRR
financing through public-private partnerships.
• International Donors and Humanitarian Agencies: Development and humanitarian
actors are encouraged to scale up funding for DRR, particularly in vulnerable countries
including Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and conflict affected nations.
• Civil Society and Academia: Advocates, researchers, and practitioners are expected to
drive innovation, provide evidence for risk-informed investments, and hold
stakeholders accountable for implementing DRR strategies.
To illustrate the transformative potential of these calls to action, here are concrete examples:
1. Increasing Domestic DRR Funding.
India is currently dedicating around USD 28 billion to DRR financing and this amount is
expected to rise to USD 42 billion under the 16th Finance Commission, which
commences in 2026. This represents a 50% increase from the current budget.
Philippines increased the 2025 budget of its National Disaster Risk Reduction and
Management Fund to USD 368 million, which is a USD 9 million, or a 2.5%, increase
from 2024.
2. Scaling Up International DRR Assistance.
Australia has long been a supporter of building climate and disaster resilience,
especially in the Pacific. In 2025-26, Australia will increase its Official Development
Assistance (ODA) budget by around 2.75% from the 2024-25 levels to deliver AU$5.097
billion in assistance.
3. Ensuring Risk-Informed Development.
Guatemala’s Vice President Karin Herrera recently proposed including the National
Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) in Guatemala’s main economic and
social decision-making bodies, noting that risk reduction must be a whole-ofgovernment responsibility.
Bhutan, with the support of UNDRR and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure, developed a National Plan for Infrastructure Resilience, and aligned it
with its 13th Five-Year Plan, 2024-2029, which aims to transition Bhutan to a highincome country within the next decade.
Rwanda’s Vision 2050 aims to transform the country into a high-income country by
2050 with a green and climate-resilient economy. To achieve this vision, it updated in
2022 its Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy, which, among its goals, is
“Disaster Risk Reduction that reduces vulnerability to climate change impacts.”
Chile has mandatory seismic-resistant building codes that apply to all structures and
are enforced through combination of stringent regulations, independent oversight, and
legal frameworks to combat corruption. Chilean law also holds builders liable for
construction deficiencies, giving them ample incentive to make sure their structures
are quake-resistant. This has saved countless lives and reduced earthquake economic
losses.
Octopus Investments, a member of UNDRR’s Investors Advisory Board, is applying the
Principles for Resilient Infrastructure to guide investment decisions of a fund focused
on the renewable energy industry.
