The choice is ours:
invest in resilience or keep paying for disasters.
The resilience revolution
How small investments yield big transformations
Rivers burst their banks, swallowing homes and fields. Cyclones tear across coastlines, ripping away walls from classrooms. Entire mountains catch fire under relentless heat, families fleeing with only what they can carry.
What we call disasters are rarely accidents of nature alone. They are the product of choices—where we build, how we farm, what we invest in. And these choices often collide with natural hazard events. Events which are now being amplified by the changing climate.
The losses are staggering even today: over US$200 billion annually in direct damages, and the overall costs exceed $2.3 trillion when indirect and ecosystem impacts are included.
Within these numbers is the human toll: families displaced, livelihoods lost, the future of youth and children undercut, human development derailed.
Yet, in some countries, less than 1 percent of public budgets is spent on reducing disaster risks, while investments in housing, infrastructure and business continue to be made without factoring in disaster risks.
The choice is ours: invest in resilience or keep paying for disasters.
Prevention is better than recovery
A disaster can undo decades of progress overnight. But resilience repays itself many times over.
Early warning systems can cut disaster losses by 30%
Early warning systems provide advance notice of hazards, giving people precious time to react.
They are crucial tools for building resilience and safeguarding lives.
Early warning systems help reduce loss of life, minimize economic losses and protect infrastructure.
Bangladesh offers proof demonstrated in fewer lives lost—from 300,000 during Cyclone Bhola in 1970 down to 20 during Cyclone Amphan in 2020—thanks to coastal embankments, mangrove restoration, shelters built within reach of the most vulnerable villages, and women-led preparedness networks. For years, cyclones brought only tragedy and destruction; today, the same hazards showcase how far adaptation has come.
In Moldova, communities along the Nistru and Prut rivers once braced for floods every year that cut them off for weeks. Today, modern embankments, reservoirs and restored wetlands protect 65,000 people, while early warning systems give families precious hours to move to safety. By reducing the annual disruptions to the local economy, these preparations allow for more sustainable opportunities for growth and prosperity.
Resilience doesn’t just reduce losses. It multiplies hope.
Preparedness becomes an instinct
The ocean retreats. Silence. Then the water roars in.
That moment has defined too many lives across Asia’s coasts. But today, children in Samoa slip on virtual-reality headsets and suddenly find themselves immersed, navigating the flooded streets of their own villages. They learn to run uphill, to move fast and make the instinctive decisions that save lives when seconds matter.
In Indonesia, schools use a mobile app called STEP-A to measure their tsunami readiness. the data lets authorities see—in real time—which schools are prepared and which are not. Teachers and officials no longer plan in the dark; they prepare with precision.
220,000
Teachers, students and officials
800
Schools
24
Countries
Since 2017, over 220,000 teachers, students and officials in 800 schools across 24 countries have practiced evacuation drills.
Preparedness is becoming second nature. Instinct, once trained, never leaves.
Adapting to new risks
In Eswatini’s dry lowlands, farmer Fundile Tembe, just 23 years old, once relied on a single fragile crop. Today, with climate-resilient seeds, drip irrigation and digital access to markets, she has diversified into multiple crops, so even if one crops fails, she can continue generating income from others.
I used to produce green pepper only, but because of the drip irrigation system, I also produce legumes and butternut.
Fundile Tembe, Farmer
Across the Pacific, farmers and fisherfolk are finding livelihood security in innovative insurance models, where payouts are triggered automatically when rainfall falls below a set level. No more waiting for claims. No more sliding into debt.
For governments too, risk no longer means ruin. The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility has made 78 payouts totalling over $390 million to 22 of its member governments, bridging the gap between devastation and recovery.
In Ecuador’s Amazon, more than 70,000 coffee producers are reshaping landscapes and livelihoods by linking their harvests to forest protection, safeguarding vital ecosystems while securing their incomes. The initiative is showing how sustainable land use is a powerful nature-based solution to rising climate and environmental challenges, bolstering natural defences to hazards like floods and landslides.
A disaster is never the final chapter. The story that follows is one of resilience, written by communities rising stronger together.
In Ecuador, “deforestation-free coffee” aims to preserve the forests that serve as natural defences to hazards like flooding and landslides.
Photo:
ProAmazonía
Building resilience in fragile contexts
Nowhere is a natural hazard event more dangerous than where conflict already frays the social fabric. Floods, droughts and earthquakes can ignite tensions over land, water or food—just as insecurity makes it harder for communities to prepare or recover.
The way forward lies in building resilience that not only saves lives but also strengthens the foundations of peace.
In Somalia, drought once drove farmers and herders into conflict over shrinking water holes. The construction of earth dams and storage tanks, managed by communities themselves, has secured water for more than 50,000 households. What was once a flashpoint for violence is now a shared resource that brings people together.
Now the situation is completely changed… Our livestock have fully recovered from the drought, and we can pay back the heavy debts.
Mawlid Mohamed, Pastoralist
Construction of earth dams and storage tanks has improved access to water in drought-prone Puntland, Somalia.
Photo:
UNDP
When Ukraine’s Kakhovka Dam was destroyed amid war, floods submerged villages across four oblasts. More than 100,000 people lost access to safe water. Mobile filtration units equipped with solar panels were deployed to restore clean water, even during power outages. In the middle of crisis, technology that was not reliant of power grids that were under constant attack meant survival.
When resilience takes root in fragile places, it also plants seeds of recovery and future readiness.
Cities that build for the future
Urban areas house more than half the world’s population and generate over 80 percent of global GDP. Yet if we don’t act, by 2030, the impact of disasters could cost cities three times more than today.
Urban resilience is not just about walls and drains. It is about re-imagining cities so that every investment—in housing, schools, transport—is fortified against tomorrow’s storms.
In Georgia, the deadly floods that tore through Tbilisi in 2015 became a turning point. Across the country’s 11 river basins, a new resilience effort now protects 1.7 million people. Early warning systems, modern hydrometeorological networks and satellite-based hazard maps guide decisions about where to build and where to evacuate during emergencies. Riverbanks are being restored and floodplains re-imagined as natural defences, while cities weave risk reduction into their everyday planning. The aim is bold: to cut future climate-driven losses by 90 percent and ensure that the next storm leaves behind fewer scars than the last.
In West Africa’s coastal cities, resilient homes are being built using revived Nubian vault techniques that cool interiors by 7°C compared to metal roofing. More than 7,000 homes stand across Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana and Benin, housing nearly 12,000 people. These structures embody how traditional knowledge can underpin urban resilience.
Tapping into ancient building techniques, the Nubian Vault Association is developing climate-resilient housing in West Africa..
Photo:
Cosmos / Christian Lamontagne
Empowering women and youth
Women and youth are often among the hardest hit by disasters. And yet, in the same places where the risk is greatest, their leadership often shines the brightest. When they have the tools and the space to lead, they do more than survive disasters—they redefine how communities prepare, respond and rebuild.
In Sudan, women-led farming cooperatives are strengthening food security with drought-resistant seeds, water conservation and financial management skills, ensuring that farms can withstand failed rains.
My farm is thriving. If the harvest is successful this season, I hope to earn enough to buy a cart, which will make it easier to manage the farm.
Aisha Ismail Mohamed, Farmer
In Yemen, youth are rehabilitating terraces, repairing rural roads and creating water user associations that regulate scarce supplies fairly. They are reducing disaster risks even as conflict rages around them.
When women and youth lead, vulnerability gives way to vitality.
A safer future is possible
In a world battling climate change, conflict and insecurity, the risk of disasters will continue to increase.
The question isn’t if, it’s how we respond.
Every investment in resilience is a declaration: that we refuse to be defined by disasters. That we will protect our communities, our children and our future. That we will learn, adapt and rise stronger than before.
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