Online Workshop on Effective Public Governance and Finance for Disaster Risk Reduction, Local

 Resilience and Climate Action

 17 - 19 June 2025

14:30-18:00 (Seoul Time)

 07:30-11:00 (Geneva Time)

 01:30-05:00 (New York Time)

Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PItbncj7Q2afYDhJIWOYEg#/registration

Organized by

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), through

the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) and its project office - United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) CIFAL Jeju/Jeju International Training Center (JITC) and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA) and Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) and Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) with support from the Incheon Metropolitan City and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Republic of Korea.

I. Description of the Event

An Online Workshop on Effective Public Governance and Finance for Disaster Risk Reduction, Local Resilience and Climate Action will be held on 17-19 June 2025. The workshop is organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), through the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government (DPIDG) and its project office - United Nations Project Office on Governance (UNPOG), the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) CIFAL Jeju/Jeju International Training Center (JITC) and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Office for Northeast Asia (ONEA) and Global Education and Training Institute (GETI) and Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030), with support from the Incheon Metropolitan City and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Republic of Korea.

The Workshop will introduce concepts and tools to help ensure effective governance, disaster-related data management, planning and finance mobilization for local-level disaster risk reduction (DRR), resilience and climate action. It will provide a comprehensive understanding of concepts, tools and approaches for risk understanding and loss and damage assessment, integrated planning, institutional strengthening across different levels of governance, as well as finance mechanisms to support disaster risk reduction and climate action, with particular focus on response to loss and damage.

This edition of the workshop will feature several innovative tools designed to support countries in strengthening climate and disaster risk governance. In particular, the workshop will explore practical tools for local climate resilience planning and gap assessment developed under the MCR2030 initiative.^[1] In addition, participants will pilot the draft Climate Readiness Assessment Tool developed by UN DESA, which is intended to help governments assess institutional gaps and identify capacity development needs related to climate resilience.

Key frameworks and tools related to disaster data collection and management will be presented, including the Disaster-Related Statistics Framework, the next generation Disaster Tracking System and the Data Ecosystem and Maturity Assessment Framework developed by UNDRR, UNDP, WMO and other partners. These instruments aim to support countries in monitoring hazardous events and disaggregated disaster losses and damages, thereby promoting evidence-based and risk-informed decision-making.

Finally, the training will introduce the latest developments and available instruments to support developing countries in responding to loss and damage in the context of climate change, including the Santiago network for averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage and the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. 

Throughout the sessions, interactive quiz activities and examples of innovative solutions to build resilience across all levels of society will be provided to enhance learning outcomes and ensure a holistic understanding of comprehensive risk reduction and resilience efforts in support of sustainable development.

II. Background and Thematic Focus

“We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell, and the truth is we have control of the wheel… The need for climate action is unprecedented, but so is the opportunity, not just to deliver on climate but on economic prosperity and sustainable development.”

-          UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Special Address on Climate Action on 5 June 2024^[2]

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places great importance on disaster risk reduction (DRR) as a cross-cutting element in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It proposes concrete commitments to reduce risk, vulnerability, build capacity, and promote resilience to disasters.^[3] Reducing disaster risk and building resilience are interrelated thrusts of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.^[4] The Sendai Framework calls on governments to move towards risk-informed governance arrangements that include broader hazard and risk scope and incorporate the concept of systemic risk. Priorities of the Sendai Framework expressly call for strengthening disaster risk reduction planning, governance, and financing to manage disaster risk.

The climate crisis is considered one of the greatest threats to humanity and the planet. With average global temperature increases already reaching 1.1°C and passing the critical 1.5°C milestone in 2024, climate change is rapidly altering the risk profile of the planet, intensifying the magnitude, frequency, and severity of disasters.  Extreme weather events have doubled over the last 20 years compared to the previous twenty years. The increasing complexity and interaction of human, economic, political, and natural systems are resulting in cascading disaster impacts, particularly for the developing world. This has exacerbated inequalities within and between countries, with Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) often experiencing the worst impacts despite contributing the least to global greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change compounds other human security risks, such as conflict and food and water security challenges, leading to increased humanitarian needs.

Risks associated with climate change are becoming increasingly complex, interacting with other hazards, increasing vulnerability, and resulting in compounding risks. Together, these risks compromise the developmental gains achieved thus far across vulnerable nations as they strive to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030). The Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the Implementation of the Sendai Framework has flagged the existential threat of climate change and the need for course correction. Such risks are often more acute and associated with significant threats in SIDS and LDCs. For instance, the MTR findings indicate that SIDS have experienced higher numbers of deaths per 100,000 population compared with the global average. Risk reduction cannot occur without the use of climate and forecast information; likewise, climate change adaptation will not be successful without risk reduction. Despite the high recognition of the need to integrate climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, wide gaps persist in planning and implementation, often impeded by weak institutional capacities, silos and fragmentation at the national and local levels.

Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation share the common objective of reducing vulnerability and enhancing capacity and resilience. Addressing loss and damage is integral to these efforts, as it involves managing the adverse impacts of climate change that exceed the limits of adaptation, including both economic and non-economic losses^[5]. This is reflected in the overall goals and objectives of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, among other international agreements. The most recent convening of Parties to the UNFCCC (COP 27) and the Paris Agreement (CMA 4) identified mitigation, adaptation, financing, and loss and damage as priority areas, all of which are mutually shared across all domains. Significant progress has been made with the establishment and operationalization of the Santiago network for averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage (SNLD) and the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), which aim to provide technical assistance and financial support to developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

Risk-informed planning, governance, and tailored finance are essential for disaster risk reduction and local resilience in the face of climate risks. Comprehensive risk management approaches promoting policy coherence between DRR and climate action across sectors and levels of government and fostering collaboration among government institutions, non-state actors, and other stakeholders can help to avert, minimize and address loss and damage, and enhance resilience and sustainability.

In addition, one of the foundations of risk-informed sustainable development is an evidence-based approach to policy and investment decisions. Disaster losses and damages data collection and use is an essential basis for understanding the risks and impacts of disasters and ensuring risk-informed policies and financial decisions. This is strongly emphasized in the Sendai Framework, which advocates for collection, analysis, management and use of relevant data and practical risk information, along with its effective dissemination. Specifically, Guiding Principle (g) highlights the importance of risk-informed decision-making based on the open exchange and dissemination of data and easily accessible, up-to-date, comprehensible, science-based, non-sensitive risk information.

This online workshop will introduce key concepts, frameworks, approaches and tools developed by the United Nations and its partners to support governments and strengthen institutional capacity to respond to these challenges. Specific tools presented in this workshop will include the Climate Resilience Addendum to the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities under MCR2030, which allows users to self-assess the integration of disaster and climate resilience strategies at the sub-national government level.

The Climate Readiness Assessment Tool will be also featured, supporting governments in evaluating institutional capacities, policy coherence, and inter-agency coordination for integrated climate action. In addition, the Disaster Tracking System (DTS) for hazardous events and losses and damages will be introduced along with related methodologies, standards and frameworks to help countries monitor their progress in reducing disaster losses and damages and inform policy and investment decisions.

The workshop will also explore recent progress made in establishing global mechanisms and capacity building and finance support instruments to help developing countries in averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage caused by climate change. The sessions will provide an overview of the Santiago network for averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage established under the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage in 2019,^[6] which aims to catalyze technical assistance from various organizations, bodies, networks, and experts (OBNEs) to developing countries; and of the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage, established at COP27,^[7] which aims to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by climate change.

III. Workshop Objectives

The online workshop, while promoting risk-informed planning, governance and finance, will:

1.       Improve understanding of key DRR concepts and support localization and implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030;

2.       Enhance familiarity with Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) resources to enhance local resilience, and explore related tools for assessing climate resilience at the local level in support of evidence-based risk reduction and resilience planning;

3.       Promote data-driven, evidence-based decision-making and investment through disaster-related data frameworks and monitoring systems that enable robust understanding and analysis of disaster risk and losses and damages;

4.       Gain knowledge on the global governance landscape for climate action and sustainable development and understand how international processes inform national planning;

5.       Identify key institutional barriers and entry points for strengthening policy coordination, coherence, and integration in support of effective governance for climate action;

6.       Provide an overview of the global DRR and climate finance landscape, with particular emphasis on supporting disaster-vulnerable countries in addressing loss and damage and strengthening resilience, including the recent establishment of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage;

7.       Strengthen knowledge of practical approaches and instruments for bolstering resilience to disaster risk and loss and damage, with special attention to newly developed frameworks, mechanisms and comprehensive monitoring systems, including the Santiago Network and the enhanced Disaster Tracking System (DTS).

IV. Expected Outcomes

By the end of the online workshop, participants will have:

a)       Understood the main concepts and global frameworks for DRR, climate change adaptation and loss and damage, disaster risk assessment and monitoring frameworks and systems, as well as innovative finance mechanisms in support of the implementation of the SDGs, of the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030 and of the Paris Agreement;

b)      Enhanced their understanding of MCR2030 tools supporting local risk reduction and resilience planning in support of climate resilience;

c)       Increased understanding of the institutional structures and processes that enable integrated and inclusive governance;

d)      Applied tools and strategies for strengthening coordination and coherence in climate and sustainable development planning;

e)      Gained a solid understanding of the global DRR and climate finance landscape, with emphasis on the support provided to disaster-vulnerable countries through mechanisms such as the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage;

f)        Learned about practical tools and recent instruments, including the Santiago Network and the Disaster Tracking System (DTS) for hazardous events and losses and damages, through which planning and implementation for local resilience to disaster risk and loss and damage can be enhanced.

V. Structure, Methodology and Sessions’ Thematic Focus

The training will consist of lectures and thematic presentations by experts, case study presentations, interactive Q&A discussions, and knowledge check quizzes and exercises. The workshop is composed of three Sessions and the thematic focus of each session will include:

Session 1. Setting the Scene: Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience Concepts, Frameworks and Tools

This session will introduce key concepts and issues related to disaster risk reduction and resilience in the context of climate change and complex systemic risks. The aim of the session is to strengthen participants’ understanding of global and local risks, key global policy frameworks in coherence and integrated approaches to risk governance, as well as tools for national and local planning and implementation. In particular, the session will introduce a useful MCR2030 tool for local gap assessment and planning, the Climate Resilience Addendum to the Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities, which local governments can use to create a baseline understanding of their progress, identify gaps and needs, and define actions to enhance climate resilience. Participants will also learn from the practical experience of a city that has applied the tool to guide its resilience efforts. The session will further introduce global disaster data management methodological frameworks and standards that support evidence-based approach to policy and investment decisions. Finally, participants will have an opportunity to share their experiences during the Q&A and will participate in an interactive quiz to help practice and apply the concepts learned during the session.

Session 2. Effective Governance and Institutional Arrangements for Synergistic Climate Action, Resilience, and Sustainable Development

This session offers a comprehensive introduction to the principles, tools, and institutional strategies needed to advance integrated climate action that fosters resilience and supports sustainable development. Structured around three foundational building blocks: policy coordination, policy coherence, and policy integration, it equips participants to translate global climate and development commitments into effective national and local actions. The session consists of two parts and includes interactive elements such as the Climate Readiness Assessment, group exercises, and the development of an integrated strategy tailored to national contexts.

Part 1. Institutional Arrangements for Synergistic Climate Action

The first part of the session focuses on the role of policy coherence in enhancing synergies across sectors and integrating climate priorities into broader governance frameworks. It introduces practical approaches to improve coherence and explores the institutional and political roots of policy fragmentation. Participants will examine the importance of systems thinking in responding to the complexity of climate action, recognizing the interconnections among policy areas. The discussion expands from horizontal coordination across sectors to vertical integration, emphasizing how national governments can align with global commitments and engage effectively with local governments to ensure inclusive and context-sensitive climate action.

Part 2. Climate Readiness Assessment Tool

The second part introduces participants to the Climate Readiness Assessment Tool, designed to support governments in evaluating institutional capacity, policy coherence, and inter-agency coordination for integrated climate governance. It provides an overview of the global governance landscape for climate action and sustainable development, illustrating how international agreements and mechanisms influence national strategies. The session examines key capacity gaps, political and institutional barriers, and national constraints that often impede effective climate action. Emphasis is placed on the importance of policy coordination and stakeholder engagement as entry points to build stronger and more responsive institutions and enable effective implementation of climate and development priorities.

Session 3. Financing and Implementation Instruments for Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience and Addressing Loss and Damage

Climate-related disasters have intensified in both frequency and severity, leading to escalating economic and human losses, particularly in low-income developing countries. Strengthening financial preparedness and ensuring the availability of adequate resources are key to enhancing resilience against such shocks and to enabling timely response to loss and damage. Climate finance plays a central role in reducing disaster risk and addressing the adverse impacts of climate change. Given that the Asia-Pacific region is the most disaster-prone region globally, enhancing financial resilience at the national level is essential for effective response, recovery, and building back better. In recognition of this urgency, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reached a historic decision to establish the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage. The Fund is intended to support vulnerable countries through the provision and mobilization of new and additional resources, covering both ongoing and post-event needs. Beyond financing, various implementation instruments — including technical assistance, data systems, and operational tools — have also been developed in recent years to support countries in managing and responding to the impacts of climate risks more effectively.

This session will provide an overview of the global disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate finance landscape, with a particular focus on the development and operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. It will also introduce practical approaches and technical support instruments aimed at responding to loss and damage and enhancing resilience, with emphasis on recent advances under the Santiago Network for averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage and the Disaster Tracking System (DTS) for hazardous events and losses and damages.

V. Target Audience

This training is open to national and local government officials including SDGs, Sendai Framework, climate and urban development focal points and other stakeholders from national government, civil society and institutions in Asia-Pacific and beyond interested in or supporting disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation, building resilience, innovative finance mechanism for climate action and sustainable development.

VI. Certificates

UN DESA/DPIDG/UNPOG, UNITAR CIFAL Jeju/JITC and UNDRR ONEA & GETI will issue a joint certificate of participation to participants upon successful completion and meeting the requirements* of the training.

*Requirements:

●        Attend and actively participate in all three sessions.

●        Submit the post-workshop knowledge assessments.

VII. Application and Deadline

Interested participants are required to complete the registration form by 17 June 2025 at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PItbncj7Q2afYDhJIWOYEg#/registration

VIII. Agenda