The United Nations today launched a new initiative at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye, aiming to secure access to more than US$3 billion in risk financing to protect 75 million people and their livelihoods from potential climate shocks and natural hazards by 2030.
Bringing together six UN agencies, the UN Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) Platform aims to make disaster response funding more predictable, increase the availability of funding for early action during major crises, and maximize the impact of every dollar by combining available resources with private sector support.
The platform will enable agencies to share expertise, pool data, and coordinate joint solutions to expand the UN's use of pre-arranged financing. Combining robust data and predictive analysis with funds will help governments and agencies help turn early warnings into anticipatory actions. This will strengthen emergency responses before, during, and after disasters.
The platform and collaboration across agencies will also ensure funding is used more efficiently and strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities to future shocks. Collaboration with the insurance industry and financial markets will be key to reducing costs as financing scales up. The platform will allow all agencies to fully engage while maintaining programmatic and operational independence.
Ahead of its public launch, the UN DRF Platform recently delivered its first results. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) were able to put in place insurance policies that provide a financial safety net for their anticipatory action programmes. This was supported by specialist insurance teams from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and helps reach more people before disasters strike to protect their homes, food, or livelihoods. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will bring its expertise in displacement risk analysis and anticipatory action to the platform, helping ensure that communities at risk of displacement are better protected before disasters strike.
Yet pre-arranged financing still accounts for less than two percent of global humanitarian financing, which falls far short of the scale needed. By working together, members of the UN DRF Platform can combine their expertise and resources to help close this gap.
The UN DRF Platform is a joint initiative among the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IOM, OCHA, UNICEF, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and WFP.
Quotes:
Máximo Torero Cullen, FAO Chief Economist: "At a time when crises are becoming increasingly interconnected and frequent, we must invest in robust data, advanced analytics and predictive capacities to anticipate risks and act before they escalate. Thanks to strong partnerships, over the past decade FAO has been able to assist millions of vulnerable rural people with anticipatory actions ahead of predicted shocks. The UN Disaster Risk Financing Platform provides an opportunity to further bring together collective expertise, data and existing investments to foster collaboration and scale up innovative financing solutions to avoid humanitarian crises, build resilience, save lives and livelihoods."
Maria Moita, IOM Director, Department of Humanitarian Response and Recovery: "When disasters strike, families can lose their homes, livelihoods and everything they have built. Yet many of these risks can be anticipated, and acting early can reduce the risk of displacement. At IOM, we work with communities to understand these risks, strengthen preparedness and help people remain safely where they are whenever possible. Through this platform, we can combine our expertise with more predictable financing to turn early warnings into action and better protect those most at risk."
Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Outreach at UN-OCHA: "Disasters are increasingly predictable, yet the financing needed to act ahead of them remains slow and fragmented. The UN Disaster Risk Financing Platform reflects our conviction that pre-arranged finance, deployed at scale and before crises escalate, is the right approach to better protect vulnerable communities and reduce humanitarian impacts."
Gernot Laganda, UNICEF Global Practice Director for Climate and Environment: "A robust forecast can give us days, sometimes even weeks, to act before a flood, storm or heatwave puts children at risk. Those precious days can mean access to safe water, essential health and nutrition supplies in place, and families able to get to safety before disaster strikes. Insurance ensures we have the money available to act on that warning, even in a year when several disasters come at once. Through this platform, we will be able to protect many more children."
Antón Leis García, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations: "For millions of refugees already on the frontlines of the climate crisis, acting early can save lives, protect livelihoods and prevent further displacement. The UN Disaster Risk Financing Platform marks an important step towards working as one UN to ensure financing is in place before disasters strike. By making funding faster, more predictable and accessible to those most at risk, we can better protect forcibly displaced people and their host communities and help them build a more resilient future."
Rania Dagash, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Innovation: "Our anticipatory action, insurance and contingency funds have helped millions of food insecure people reduce the impacts of floods, droughts and storms, and get back on their feet faster after disasters. As the United Nations' largest user of pre-arranged financing, WFP has helped secure nearly US$211 million in pre-arranged finance to protect up to 9.6 million people in more than 50 countries this year. Our collaboration across the UN system will make sure financing arrives at the right time, in the right place, at a lower cost."
