Remarks by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator a.i. Samuel Doe at the 16th African Risk Capacity CoP

Distinguished Delegates, 

Colleagues, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a privilege to speak on behalf of the United Nations Country Team in Ethiopia at this Sixteenth Session of the African Risk Capacity Conference of the Parties, here in Addis Ababa — a city that stands for African unity, determination, and hope.

We meet at a moment of mounting pressure. The Global Assessment Report 2025 makes the scale starkly clear: annual direct disaster losses have risen from roughly USD 70–80 billion in the 1970–2000 period to USD 180–200 billion between 2001 and 2020.  And when we account for cascading and ecosystem impacts the annual bill now tops USD 2.3 trillion. 

Left unchecked, these trends threaten not only incomes—potentially eroding global incomes by as much as 19 percent by 2050—but the very foundations of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Across Africa, the continent that has contributed less than 4 percent of global emissions, climate-related shocks increasingly drive humanitarian needs and derail development gains.

That is why ARC matters. African solutions for African risks are not a slogan — they are a necessity. ARC is a practical instrument for shifting from reaction to anticipation: turning early warnings into early action, and stopping hazards from becoming humanitarian catastrophes. 

It is a mechanism that translates continental commitments—the Sendai Framework, Africa’s Programme of Action, and the Windhoek Declaration—into finance that reaches communities before disaster strikes.

From the UN Country Team’s work in Ethiopia and across the region, we have seen what this looks like on the ground. Strengthening multi-hazard early warning systems, improving loss and damage tracking, scaling climate‑smart livelihoods, and integrating gender into adaptation and disaster-risk reduction are not abstract plans — they save lives, protect incomes, and reduce long-term costs for governments and donors alike. 

Through initiatives like the UN Secretary‑General’s Early Warning for All, we are working to ensure that every person, everywhere in Africa, has access to timely, actionable warnings.

But partnership must run deeper. African governments must accelerate ratification of the ARC Treaty and embed sovereign risk financing and early warning systems into national budgets and planning. 

International partners must back African ownership with predictable, long-term finance that strengthens ARC and other African-led institutions rather than creating parallel instruments. 

The private sector must also step up — insurers, investors, and financiers have a pivotal role in mobilizing risk-sensitive products: climate-smart portfolios, green bonds, and risk-pooling arrangements that close the resilience financing gap.

Ethiopia’s role as the designated host of COP32 is a powerful opportunity for momentum — to drive more ambitious adaptation finance, expand early warning coverage, and elevate equitable climate action that supports the most vulnerable. 

The outcomes we deliver here and at COP32 will matter not only for Africa’s resilience but for global stability and shared prosperity. The United Nations stands ready to deepen our cooperation with the African Union, the ARC Group, Member States, and partners. 

We will continue to support the scaling up of early warning systems, the integration of anticipatory finance into national plans, and the mainstreaming of gender-responsive resilience measures. 

Our goal is simple and urgent: to ensure that when the next storm, drought or flood looms, we act early and decisively so people are protected, economies hold, and development endures.

Let us leave this session resolved to match our words with predictable finance, practical policy, and collective action. 

If we move together—with speed, scale, and solidarity—we can build a future where African nations are prepared before crises arrive, and where communities do not merely survive shocks but thrive through them.

Thank you.