The G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRRWG), under the Indian Presidency, concluded the third and final meeting in Chennai on Wednesday with all G20 members accepting the relevant action points under the five priority areas. These are Global Coverage of Early Warning Systems, Disaster, and Climate Resilient Infrastructure, Financing Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response System, and the Ecosystem-based Approach to DRR.

This is the first such Communique on DRR. The document will be fed at the Sherpa levels and then to the leaders of G20.

The DRRWG was newly launched by the Indian Presidency in December 2022, and it is India’s legacy to the G20. The Brazilian Presidency will take forward the DRRWG when they take the esteemed Presidency of the G20 in December 2023, the release said.

The consensus amongst countries reaffirms their commitment towards Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2020 , to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks. Extensive negotiations during the two days of the meeting brought together G20 members, invited countries, besides international organisations, and knowledge partners, says a release.

Capacity building

The members agreed on accelerating their efforts to enhance universal coverage of multi-hazard early warning systems and transforming them into early action. They will foster collaborations between different stakeholders to build capacities for support anticipatory action and promote pre-arranged financing so that early action saves lives and livelihoods.

Members also emphasised the need for investments in disaster and climate resilient infrastructure, with a focus on G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment. They recognized the need to strengthen public-private partnerships, blended finance mechanisms, and governance systems for resilient and interconnected infrastructure projects. They have made voluntary contributions to a compendium of good practices on disaster resilient infrastructure, in the spirit of collaboration and sharing of knowledge and expertise on infrastructure resilience among different stakeholders.

G20 stressed on the urgent need to increase financing for DRR and for better integration of DRR into public and private sector investment decisions. The G20 members agreed to strengthen existing comprehensive national financing strategies for DRR that strengthen synergies between disaster risk financing and DRR financing in a risk-layered approach. They also agreed to develop and promote the use of assessment tools to analyse and quantify the economic impact of disasters.

Further, the countries aim to strengthen national and global disaster preparedness, recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction systems and learn lessons from past disasters. On the last priority, the members accentuated the need for the effective application of nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based approaches for DRR.

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