Key publications on disaster risk

A selection of reference publications on disaster and climate risks.

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Latest Global Assessment Report

GAR Special Report 2023: Mapping resilience for the Sustainable Development Goals

This report explores what risk-informed sustainable development looks like in an increasingly complex and risky world, highlighting how resilience-building must be central to the framing of a more risk-informed post-2030 agenda.

The UN Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is the flagship report of the United Nations on worldwide efforts to reduce disaster risk. The GAR has been published every two years since 2009 by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and is distilled from public and private disaster risk-related science and research.

Read past Global Assessment Reports

Disaster losses & statistics resources

While absolute economic losses are concentrated in high-income countries, the human cost of disasters falls overwhelmingly on low and middle-income countries.

Take a look at disaster statistics reports, disaster loss data sources, and resources on how to collect disaster loss data.

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Access the resources

Other useful reports

IPCC reports

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) prepares comprehensive Assessment Reports about knowledge on climate change, its causes, potential impacts and response options. he IPCC Fifth Assessment Report was an important influence on the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015. The IPCC began its seventh assessment cycle in 2023.

Human Development Report

The Human Development Report is a United Nations Development Programme reference for better understanding development issues. The Human Development Reports have an extensive influence on the development debate worldwide. They have also inspired national and regional analyses which, by their nature, usually address issues that are more country or regionally specific.

Global Environment Outlook

Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is the United Nations Environment Programme’s synthesis of environmental trends, containing baseline information on emerging environmental issues and threats, and policies being implemented at global and regional levels. Its findings and recommendations are the basis of UNEP activities in warning, vulnerabilities and risk assessments.

Cover and source: United Nations University – Institute for Environment and Human Security

Interconnected disaster risks 2023

The 2023 Interconnected Disaster Risks report analyses six interconnected risk tipping points, selected for their representation of large global issues, which are changing lives across the world. The report also proposes a new framework to classify and discuss the effectiveness of solutions that can help humanity address risk tipping points.

The Global Report on Internal Displacement

IDMC's Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID) is the world’s most trusted source of data and analysis on the risk, scale and impacts of internal displacement. The 2023 report is its eighth edition and includes a special focus on the complex relationships between disasters, conflict and violence, food security and internal displacement.

IFRC World Disasters Report

The World Disasters Report 2022 focuses on the coronavirus pandemic and preparedness: both the ways preparedness ahead of COVID-19 was inadequate, and how the world can prepare more effectively for future public health emergencies. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of natural and man-made disasters, including data on disaster frequency and disaster-related deaths.