Accelerating Financing for Risk Prevention

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed how under-prepared governments are to tackle the systemic nature of risk and how prevention and resilience is under-prioritized and underinvested in. As the reality of climate impacts hit, we will continue to face losses from disasters, where vulnerable groups are expected to be most affected.  
Political leaders are today faced with an increasingly tight fiscal space and existential dilemmas over whether to allocate scarce public resources to immediate relief or to invest in a more inclusive sustainable recovery. Development finance in the era of COVID-19 recognizes the value of investing in ex-ante disaster risk reduction to bridge the short term with the long term, whilst addressing climate change and ensuring overall sustainability. But such an investment requires a fundamental shift in mindset across both the public sector as well as investment and financial sectors. A move to long term thinking, considering current and future risks, is required to achieve risk-informed and sustainable development pathways. 
This High-Level Dialogue will identify options for enhancing inclusive financing for prevention. It will discuss and unpack the ‘Think Resilience’ financing approach as a necessity in all public, as well as private sector investments. 

Session objectives 

• Share experiences and showcase opportunities for enhancing financing for prevention especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and most vulnerable countries, with focus also on gender dimensions. 
• Demonstrate opportunities for risk informing sustainable development financing strategies and for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into investment decision frameworks. 
• Discuss opportunities to scale up advocacy on the full costs and impacts of disasters. 
• Identify opportunities for strengthening the effectiveness of investments and enhancing access to finance for prevention and risk reduction at local and community level.