International Disaster Resilience Leaders Forum Incheon 2025 (IDRLF2025) - Strengthening Global Cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction for a Sustainable Future

Overview

Since 2022, Incheon Metropolitan City, a recognized Resilience Hub under the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) initiative, has hosted the International Disaster Resilience Leaders Forum (IDRLF) as an annual platform to exchange practical solutions and lessons for building local and urban resilience in the face of growing disaster and climate risks. Co-organized with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Office for Northeast Asia and Global Education and Training Institute (ONEA & GETI), and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) of the Republic of Korea, the Forum brings together local leaders, national government officials, technical experts, and international organizations from Northeast and Southeast Asia and beyond.

Previous editions of the Forum highlighted the growing exposure of cities to complex and interconnected risks, while also recognizing their role as engines of innovation and hubs of collaborative governance. IDRLF 2024 in particular demonstrated how local governments can enhance resilience through smart technologies, inclusive public education, and strategic institutional partnerships, areas where Incheon continues to lead by example. It also highlighted the value of all-of-society capacity development and education as foundational pillars of urban disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts. 

The 2025 edition of the Forum, held under the theme “Strengthening Global Cooperation on Disaster Risk Reduction for a Sustainable Future,” will focus on advancing international collaboration and reinforcing global-local partnerships to accelerate implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the final five-year window of the Sendai Framework now underway, the Forum provides a timely opportunity to share best practices and inspire innovative partnerships and action to address risks at national and local levels, building on the outcomes and recommendations of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 (GP2025) held on 2-6 June 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Forum responds directly to the findings of the Midterm Review (MTR) of the Sendai Framework, adopted in 2023, acknowledging that while important strides have been made in global DRR implementation efforts, significant gaps persist. The MTR identified shortfalls in international cooperation with developing countries, including challenges in mobilizing adequate, timely, and predictable financial resources, and stressed the need for strengthened financing mechanisms, technical support, and capacity building to meet the commitments under Target F of the Sendai Framework.  It also highlighted the importance of strengthening science, technology, and innovation systems by supporting research partnerships and leveraging local and traditional knowledge, while emphasizing the need to engage communities as equal partners in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Among its key messages, the MTR emphasized limited progress in disaster risk governance at the local level and called for more robust support for local authorities in developing and implementing DRR strategies.  It also reinforced the importance of breaking down silos between sectors and levels of government and ensuring that disaster risk reduction is pursued through all-of-society and all-of-government approaches. 

These messages were echoed at the 8th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2025 (GP2025), which was convened in Geneva in June 2025 under the theme “Every Day Counts: Act for Resilience Today”. The Global Platform's outcome document and the Geneva Call for Disaster Risk Reduction  called, among others, for diversified sources of finance for DRR, enhanced international funding and technical assistance for the most at-risk developing countries, risk-informed investment and transformative technologies, and localization of DRR efforts. It also noted that DRR must be incorporated into international development cooperation.

At the core of IDRLF 2025, this year focuses on demonstrating that resilience-building is a shared responsibility. Strengthening cooperation between countries, between local and national governments, regional networks and civil society actors, while bridging science, policy and practice, is essential to address systemic risks and compound hazards. The Forum will explore how global, regional and city-to-city cooperation efforts, including through MCR2030, can support city-led DRR efforts. It will also discuss how policy research can be incorporated into decision-making more effectively, and how multilevel governance and community engagement can be better linked.

In addition, one of the most pressing barriers to implementing DRR is the availability and accessibility of financing. At the Oslo High-Level Policy Forum on DRR Financing in 2025, global leaders, financial institutions, and DRR experts highlighted that a lack of sustained and flexible financing is one of the greatest challenges to translating DRR plans to reality.  The forum’s outcome statement stressed the need to integrate DRR into national financial planning and develop innovative financing mechanisms that support local governments and communities. IDRLF 2025 will explore these dimensions through practical examples shared by local governments of how cities can attract investment, leverage public-private partnerships, and access international climate and resilience funds.

The two-day Forum will feature a series of thematic and networking sessions designed to promote experience sharing on successful international cooperation initiatives and practical local action for DRR. Participants will also be invited to join a tour of the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) organized by the Incheon Tourism Organization and explore the city’s highlights.

The International Disaster Resilience Leaders Forum Incheon 2025 is organized by Incheon Metropolitan City, the Incheon Institute and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (Office for Northeast Asia and Global Education and Training Institute) on 29 and 30 September 2025, in Incheon, Republic of Korea, with the support of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and in cooperation with the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat.
 

About Organizers

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) is responsible for general affairs of the State Council, promulgation of Acts and subordinate statutes and treaties, government organization and prescribed number of public officials, awards and decorations, government innovation, administrative efficiency, e-government, personal information protection, management of government buildings and support for elections and referendums. Furthermore, the MOIS actively promotes local autonomy and decentralization by supporting business, finance and taxation of local governments and mediating disputes among local governments. In addition, the MOIS takes charge of establishing, supervising and adjusting policies related to safety and disaster management such as emergency countermeasure, civil defense and disaster prevention. 

Incheon Metropolitan City is the third largest city in the Republic of Korea with an international airport and harbor. The city has 168 islands and an area of 707.64 km2, with a population of approximately 3 million people. The administrative units consist of 2 counties and 8 districts. The city’s budget for 2023 is KRW 11 trillion (USD 8.305 billion). Incheon is Korea's first smart city to manage disasters, traffic, crimes, fires, and environmental pollution 24 hours a day through CCTV and IOT sensors installed throughout the city. Incheon has hosted International Organizations such as the World Bank, the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations. Incheon invited UNDRR to Songdo and established UNDRR ONEA & GETI in 2010. Incheon Metropolitan City was recognized as MCR2030 Resilience Hub in 2021 based on its continuous contribution and commitment to international cooperation for disaster risk reduction and urban resilience.

The Incheon Institute conducts systematic and reality-based research, as well as being responsible for carrying out surveys and analyses on various tasks and general issues regarding Incheon Metropolitan city, all in the pursuit to help the city establish and implement regional policies. The Incheon Institute conducts surveys and research projects regarding mid- and long- term development plans as well as for discovering major current issues affecting the city government administration. The Incheon Institute also carries out research projects entrusted by governments, government-invested agencies, and private organizations and engages in exchanges and cooperation with research institutes both at home and abroad. 

UNDRR Global Education and Training Institute (UNDRR GETI) was established in 2010 to develop a new cadre of professionals in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to build disaster resilient societies. GETI has a global mandate to provide capacity building support to mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into sustainable development; convene and support inter-city learning to strengthen resilience (Making Cities Resilient); and to provide capacity building and best practice sharing support to national training institutions working on resilience issues. Based in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, UNDRR GETI is also the global secretariat of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030).

Making Cities Resilient 2030 (MCR2030) is a unique cross-stakeholder initiative for improving local resilience through advocacy, sharing knowledge and experiences, establishing mutually reinforcing city-to-city learning networks, injecting technical expertise, connecting multiple layers of government and building partnerships.  Through delivering a clear 3-stage roadmap to urban resilience, providing tools, access to knowledge, monitoring and reporting tools. MCR2030 will support cities on their journey to reduce risk and build resilience. MCR2030 aims to ensure cities become inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable by 2030, contributing directly to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, and other global frameworks including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement and the New Urban Agenda.

The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) is an international organization established with a vision to promote peace and common prosperity among the People’s Republic of China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.