Building Resilience to Natural Disasters: A Framework for Private Sector Engagement

This report is part of a series of multistakeholder projects aimed at catalysing action on key global challenges. The unprecedented frequency and costs of natural disasters and the projected increase of their severity due to climate change are posing significant economic challenges and new risks for vulnerable populations. New approaches and investments aimed at building resilience to natural
disasters are required by all actors to help stem future losses. New frameworks for cooperation are emerging and the financial savings from such investments in resilience promise to be significant.

To deepen understanding of the private sector’s role in building resilience, the Forum facilitated a yearlong series of dialogues in New York, New Delhi, Cape Town, Washington DC and Geneva involving a total of approximately 200 participants from corporations, governments, academia and civil society. Organized in partnership with the World Bank and the United Nations International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), these dialogues were augmented by private sector interviews conducted in partnership with Dalberg Development Advisors and with input and review from the International Finance Corporation, the US Department of Homeland Security and the Provention Consortium.

Based on these consultations, this report recommends a series of concrete actions that key industries can take, in collaboration with governments and civil society, to strengthen the global capacity to withstand disasters. Building Resilience also presents dialogue participants’ broader findings for mainstreaming resilience into core business activities. As such, the report serves as a preliminary roadmap for deepening industry engagement in disaster risk reduction and for catalysing innovative public-private partnerships
(PPPs) for this purpose.