The need for proactive, data-driven strategies to reduce disaster risk and improve recovery outcomes is highlighted in a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which reveals significant opportunities to shift from reactive disaster response toward risk-informed development.
The joint publication, Mapping the Impact and Informing Economic Resilience: An Analysis of Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNAs) , seeks to meet mounting demand from governments and development partners for more rigorous, sector-specific evidence to guide risk-informed investments, accelerate recovery, and strengthen national resilience systems.
Drawing on 91 PDNAs conducted between 2000 and 2024, the report examines the toll of tropical cyclones, floods and droughts on sectors including agriculture, housing, transport, health, education, water and sanitation, and industry. The analysis spans Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe, offering a cross-regional view of where losses and damages are concentrated and which systems remain most exposed.
"The rising frequency and intensity of weather, climate, and water-related hazards have cascading impacts on our society, challenging economic resilience and sustainable development worldwide. From agriculture and energy to housing and health, no sector remains untouched by the growing risks associated with a changing climate," writes WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett in the foreword.
"This report offers a unique evidence base for understanding the differentiated impacts of hazards across sectors and provides critical insights into where vulnerabilities lie," she writes.
The findings underscore several trends:
- Concentrated economic impacts in agriculture, housing and settlements, and transport, which collectively bear the majority of reported losses and damages.
- Large disparities in the quality and extent of disaster impact data.
- Limited integration of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in national PDNAs - only around 20% of assessments reviewed engaged NMHSs.
- Increasing importance of standardised hazard attribution and sectoral impact classification to support recovery planning.
"Governments, donors, and partners can use these insights to build safer homes, stronger communities, and smarter development. Every investment in resilience today reduces the human and economic costs of tomorrow, creating a fairer, safer, and more sustainable world for everyone," writes Shoko Noda Assistant Secretary General, Assistant Administrator and Crisis Bureau Director at UNDP.
Building Back Better: Embedding Resilience in Recovery
A key message emerging from the analysis is that many countries remain locked in cycles of repeated damage because recovery efforts often prioritize rapid rebuilding over long-term resilience. The report calls for a shift toward recovery approaches that not only restore what was lost but also reduce future risk.
It highlights the need to:
- Align reconstruction with national adaptation and development plans.
- Promote safer construction standards and resilient infrastructure.
- Support diversified and climate-resilient livelihoods.
- Integrate impact-based forecasts and climate services into recovery decisions.
Adopting these measures helps countries protect critical assets, reduce future losses and build systems capable of withstanding increasingly extreme events.
The Critical Role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services
The report places strong emphasis on the role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in supporting economic resilience. NHMSs are not merely technical providers of forecasts, they are foundational partners in post-disaster decision-making. Their authoritative data forms the backbone of early warning systems, hazard attribution, climate services and risk modelling, yet their expertise remains underutilized in most PDNAs.
NMHSs enable governments to quantify the intensity and anomalies of extreme events, validate losses and damages, and translate scientific evidence into realistic recovery planning.
However, NMHSs are often overlooked in national DRR processes. This limited engagement restricts the scientific rigor of disaster impact analysis and weakens the ability to attribute observed losses and damages to specific hazard events
Greater involvement of NMHSs would transform PDNAs from reactive inventories of destruction into forward-looking resilience strategies, ensuring recovery investments strengthen early warning systems, improve sectoral vulnerabilities in agriculture, water, energy, and transport, and support climate-smart development.
The publication calls for:
- Systematic integration of NMHSs into assessment and recovery processes.
- Increased investment in observation networks, forecasting systems and data services.
- Wider use of socioeconomic benefit analyses.
- Closer collaboration between NMHSs, sector ministries and local authorities.
Strengthened NMHSs ensure that recovery and development decisions are grounded in sound science - reducing losses, improving planning and safeguarding national economies.
Key Takeaways
The analysis yields five overarching lessons:
- Sectoral impacts are predictable and preventable. Agriculture, Housing and Transport consistently face the highest impacts and should be priority sectors for risk reduction.
- Building back better must guide recovery. Investing in resilience during reconstruction reduces recurring losses and long-term costs.
- NMHSs must be fully integrated into planning. Their data improves the accuracy, credibility and effectiveness of PDNAs and recovery decisions.
- Early warning systems save lives and livelihoods. Strengthening multi-hazard EWS, particularly for vulnerable communities, is essential.
- Standardized hazard and sectoral data are foundational. Global standards improve accuracy, comparability and actionability of disaster impact information.
Together, these lessons offer a practical roadmap for countries aiming to strengthen resilience and protect development gains.
