A UN report published to mark the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13, confirms how extreme weather events have come to dominate the disaster landscape in the 21st century.

The report “The Human Cost of Disasters 2000-2019” registers a sharp increase of extreme weather events over the previous twenty years, with much of the difference explained by a rise in climate-related disasters.

Globally, there were around 6,700 climate-related disasters including severe floods and storms in the time-period 2000-2019 compared to 3,600 climate-related disasters compared to the time-frame 1980-1999.

Mami Mizutori, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, said: “Good disaster risk governance depends on political leadership and delivery on the promises made when the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction were adopted five years ago.”

The report is also reminder to UN Member States of their commitment to strengthen disaster risk governance and to have national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction in place by 2020.

Patricia Espinosa, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, cautioned: “While much progress has been made through the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda, the world is not moving quickly enough.

UN Climate Change and UNDRR Step up Cooperation

All National Adaptation Plans developed under the Paris Agreement on climate list disaster risk reduction as a top priority. Similarly, National Strategies for Disaster Risk Reduction list climate change as a key concern for disaster risk management now and in the future.

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, October 13, has been marked by a public online conversation between Patricia Espinosa, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and…