South Africa’s 2025 G20 Presidency
Second G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Meeting, 10-11 April 2025
The second G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group meeting under South Africa’s G20 Presidency took place from 10 to 11 April 2025, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre, in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
Anchored on the overall focus on Solidarity and Global Cooperation, the meeting provided an opportune moment to continue discussions on South Africa’s priorities for the DRR Working Group, following the initial meeting that was held in March this year. Importantly, the meeting began deliberations on some of the key deliverables envisaged during South Africa’s Presidency. These deliverables include, among others, the High-Level Principles for DRR and the Recovery Readiness Assessment Framework.
The Executive Mayor and Deputy Mayor of eThekwini were on board to welcome delegates to the City of eThekwini during the opening session of the meeting and also delivered remarks that highlighted the importance of the work of the DRR Working Group. The Mayor, Cllr Cyril Xaba, underscored the importance of a united global response to shared challenges brought about by disasters. He reminded the meeting participants that they are gathered in a province that had witnessed its fair share of disasters but had equally spared no efforts in improving its disaster preparedness and response plans. The Executive Mayor spoke of the need to build back better to minimise the impact of disasters.
The DRR Working Group meeting was preceded by two side events on 8 April 2025, one on Advancing Early Warning in Africa, which is aligned to Priority 2 of the G20 DRR Working Group: Global Coverage of Early Warning Systems, and another on Addressing the Multidimensional Risk Posed by Extreme Heat. On 9 April 2025, delegates undertook site visits to several sites where disaster response efforts in the province of KZN were showcased.
The next DRR Working Group meeting will take place in the month of July in Johannesburg. That meeting is expected to make progress towards finalisation of the deliverables as well as commence discussions on the Ministerial Declaration that will be adopted in October 2025 at the G20 DRR Ministerial meeting.
