UNDRR Annual Report 2019

The annual report for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019. It describes how the climate emergency was the top global agenda item in 2019. The year ended with what is almost certain to be the warmest five-year period and decade on record. Planetary boundaries have been breached, and the inability to curb greenhouse gas emissions compounds the risk of bigger, harder, more devastating disasters. At the same time, the benefits of globalization have also made risk more complex. Systemic, cascading risk is the underlying feature of today’s risk landscape.

These developments highlight the critical importance of disaster risk reduction in protecting lives, livelihoods, ecosystems and development gains. Nothing undermines development like a disaster. Reducing disaster risk and losses and avoiding the creation of new risk are essential for building a stable, sustainable and more resilient world. Therefore, disaster risk reduction is a vital ingredient in delivering the international development agenda.