Risk Knowledge and Innovation

Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDDR) recently made a visit to Nairobi, Kenya.

UNDRR gathered inter-governmental bodies, academia, practitioners, and scientists on 8 March 2023 to establish and launch the Africa Network of Centres of Excellence for Disaster Risk Reduction (NoE). 

Coastal cities in Africa experience extreme flood events annually. They substantially damaged houses, roads, communication infrastructure, motorways, and bridges. Furthermore, communities are at a high risk of water-borne diseases, particularly cholera.

This report focuses on systemic risks and lessons for risk management and recovery in the Southern African Development Community.

Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate-related disasters, and will benefit greatly from the UN Secretary-General's plan for Early Warnings for All. To cover all of the continent will take a huge effort, but the first steps have already been taken.

In March 2022, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, announced the UN would spearhead new action to ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years.

“Extreme weather events do not need to become disasters,” says Mozambique's President Nyusi on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, at the launch of a joint UNDRR-WMO publication on multi-hazard early warning systems.

The 2021/2022 edition of the Interconnected Disaster Risks report analyses 10 disasters from around the world which were selected for their notoriety and representation of a larger global issue that has changed or will change lives across the world.