TS5: Driving Resilience: The Critical Role of Private Sector's Operational Readiness for Resilient Recovery

Disasters disrupt lives, economies, and the private sector—the very engine of employment, investment, and supply chains. With the private sector accounting for 70–80% of economic activity in most countries, its role in disaster recovery and resilience is not just important—it’s essential.
From global corporations to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), businesses are often on the front lines of disaster impact and recovery. Yet, disasters frequently reveal weaknesses in operational resilience, prolonging recovery, increasing financial losses, and destabilizing national and local economies.

The increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, further threatens business continuity and long-term viability.

This session will spotlight the critical role of private sector operational readiness in driving resilient recovery. It will open dialogue on the importance of guiding principles for private sector engagement in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilient recovery. By drawing on diverse experiences and perspectives—from corporate leaders to public sector experts—participants will explore the business case for resilience and preview a draft framework for feedback.
Participants will walk away with actionable strategies to strengthen their organization’s resilience, support more effective recovery efforts, and shape future guidance for meaningful private sector involvement in DRR.

Session objectives:

• To synthesize good practices in operational readiness across diverse business scales, from large corporations to MSMEs, drawing on case studies and lessons learned from past events.
• To discuss a framework for climate-resilient business operations, examining the unique challenges posed by increasingly frequent and severe climate-driven disasters.
• To forge consensus on a standardized framework for declaring public-private partnerships in disaster resilience, identifying concrete opportunities to enhance collaboration in preparedness and recovery efforts in alignment with Sendai Framework Priority 4.  
  To reach these objectives, the session will touch upon the topics such as lessons from past disasters for operation readiness, the links between climate change and operational resilience, and public-private collaboration for building resilience.
   

Live stream:

Available soon...