The Disaster Risk Reduction Conversation for the G20 Summit in South Africa
As Johannesburg prepares to host the historic G20 Leaders' Summit* on the 22 & 23 November 2025, the first ever held on African soil, it is an opportunity to raise the profile of disaster risk reduction and climate resilience during this global economic discourse. Leveraging the summit's theme of "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability," the nation should be championing a crucial message of how disaster risk reduction can be of benefit for Africa's realities and climate action for sustainability.
South Africa's G20 presidency represents a transformative opportunity for the continent to reframe discussions on climate finance, debt relief, and sustainable development, with disaster risk reduction positioned as an important element of these deliberations. While inequality, food security, debt crises, digital inclusion, and climate resilience dominate Africa's development challenges, the summit provides a forum for addressing these interconnected issues through coordinated international action.
Climate Resilience Under Pressure
South Africa's leadership of the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group can accelerate implementation of the United Nations’ Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, moving from dialogue to concrete solutions including innovative financing mechanisms, technology transfer, and capacity building initiatives leading to integrated risk reduction. This focus comes as the nation confronts escalating climate-induced disasters that underscore the urgency of enhanced resilience measures.
The Western Cape has experienced a relentless fire season, with over 32,000 hectares scorched between October 2024 and February 2025, while the 2024/25 season recorded 78 wildfires that required activation of emergency teams. CapeNature spent over R12 million on fire suppression during this period, with over 15,000 hectares of protected reserves damaged in the Swartberg protected area alone. The increasing frequency and intensity of these wildfires places a growing burden on communities and ecosystems.
Simultaneously, devastating floods have ravaged the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Gauteng provinces. The June 2025 Eastern Cape floods resulted in the loss of life of 103 people, including more than 30 school children, and left many individuals homeless, prompting a national disaster declaration. In February 2025, KwaZulu-Natal experienced deadly mudslides and flooding in which nine people died, while Gauteng saw 1,261 households affected and individuals displaced. South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has attributed causes of these disasters to climate change for some time, such as when visiting disaster struck areas around Durban after floods killed hundreds of people in April 2022, Ramaphosa declared: "We no longer can postpone what we need to do – we must deal with climate change".
Using the UNDRR Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
South Africa faces significant disaster risk challenges influenced by natural hazards and socio-economic vulnerabilities, with a primary challenge being uneven capacity across provinces and municipalities. Urban centres often possess resources for preparedness while rural areas remain exposed with limited funding and technical expertise.
Through its G20 presidency, South Africa hopes to address some of these gaps by promoting solidarity and global cooperation as overarching principles. The presidency prioritises addressing inequalities, reducing vulnerabilities, and advancing risk transfer solutions that support vulnerable communities during both pre- and post-disaster scenarios.
Some quick wins to address the immediate challenges and systemic gaps by leveraging the G20 platform to deliver tangible results aligned with the "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability" theme would include;
Improve Early Warning Systems across Provinces
Create an integrated National and Provincial Capacity Programme
Implement and Improve Existing Local Fire Management and Emergency Response Practices
Launch a Climate Resilient School Initiative
Integrate Disaster Risk Reduction into Debt Relief Conversations
Risk Management Solutions to build National and Continental Resilience
The G20 Summit in Johannesburg also reinforces a shift from reactive disaster response to proactive, integrated risk governance aligned with ISO 31000's principles of systematic risk management. For risk professionals, this translates into immediate, actionable opportunities to develop capacity building programs that bridge the gap between well-resourced urban centres and less prepared rural municipalities. Risk managers can play a role in facilitating partnerships between the private sector, community-based organisations, educational institutions, and vulnerable populations to co-create context appropriate solutions. Some of the potential benefits of the G20 Summit for risk managers include;
Positions risk managers as strategic advisors rather than administrative functions
Opportunity for sharing international best practices in risk assessment methodologies and peer learning networks across G20 member states
Growing demand for climate risk assessments and resilience audits
Provides a platform to shape national and continental risk management policy
Opportunity to contribute to Africa's voice in global risk governance
This agenda positions risk professionals not merely as technical specialists, but as strategic enablers of equitable, sustainable development where every stakeholder, from boardrooms to informal settlements, participates in building collective resilience against escalating disasters.
Africa's Voice in the Global Dialogue
The summit positions Africa as a central player in shaping global economic policy rather than simply receiving it, with the continent's unique vulnerabilities and perspectives informing discussions on climate finance, debt relief, and sustainable development. By integrating disaster risk reduction with broader development priorities including topics such as food security and digital transformation, South Africa is demonstrating that climate resilience is not peripheral to economic growth but fundamental to achieving equity and sustainability.
As world leaders converge on Johannesburg, the devastating impacts of wildfires and floods serve as stark reminders that disaster risk reduction demands not just political commitment, but tangible international cooperation, adequate financing, and equitable technology transfer. South Africa's G20 presidency offers an opportunity to translate these principles into action, ensuring that African realities drive global solutions for a more climate resilient society of the future.
Date: 15 November 2025
Author: Michael Davies
G20 Leaders' Summit*
The G20 is the premier forum for global economic cooperation and global governance on
important issues affecting the world. It is widely regarded as a vehicle for promoting
effective multilateral cooperation as it brings together the world's leading economies to
ensure global economic stability and sustainable growth for all nations.
References:
G20 South Africa; Key Messages, G20 South Africa Presidency; (Interdepartmental Communications Committee document, 25 October 2024)
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction; G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (https://www.undrr.org/)
Mail&Guardian, 25 March 2025 (https://mg.co.za/the-green-guardian/2025-03-25-wildfires-ravage-32-000-hectares-of-western-cape-land-this-fire-season/)
Western Cape Government, Department of Local Government, 15 August 2025 (https://www.westerncape.gov.za/local-government/article/western-cape-records-more-fires-fewer-hectares-past-wildfire-season)
Central News, 5 July 2025 (https://centralnews.co.za/eastern-cape-floods-claim-103-lives-as-recovery-efforts-persist-amidst-devastation/)
The Watchers, 22 February 2025 (https://watchers.news/2025/02/22/at-least-nine-dead-after-severe-flooding-and-landslides-hit-kwazulu-natal-kzn-south-africa/)
For Afrika (https://www.forafrika.org/south-africa/storms-and-flash-floods-in-kwazulu-natal-gauteng-free-state-north-west-and-limpopo/)