Cape Town: The Disaster Risk Management Centre hosted the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group with a site visit to the Green Point Urban Park on Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025. It is the first in a series of events taking place in Cape Town over the coming days leading up to International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on Monday, Oct 13, 2025.
The theme for this year’s G20 DRR working group is Coastal Protection and Eco-based Disaster Risk Reduction. The site visit included a briefing session to the G20 DRR working group and exhibition focusing on topics like climate change and coastal hazards, and how these increase the risk of damage to infrastructure, communities and ecosystems.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Safety and Security – Alderman JP Smith said that they will welcome all delegates in Cape Town and I’m grateful that they can share this beautiful park to discuss the importance of disaster risk reduction planning in the urban environment.
Notably, the Disaster Risk Reduction is everyone’s business, and they need the support of communities to be better prepared, to create safer environments and improve preparedness for severe weather episodes.
G20 DRR Working Group
The G20 DRR Working Group aims to integrate risk reduction measures into public and private sector investment decisions and policy making to reduce existing risk. It will prevent the creation of new risk and ultimately will build resilient economies, societies, and natural systems.
Currently, the economic choices and development pathways are not in line with the commitments to reduce risk contained in the Sendai Framework as well as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.
The G20 DRR Working Group is committed to change this through the development of policy guidance, exchange of technical knowledge, promotion of capacity building, and identification of new approaches to finance, what prioritize risk reduction and resilience.
South Africa is the current President of the G20 DRR Working Group. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the Secretariat of the G20 DRR Working Group.