How can regional groupings like BRICS strengthen global disaster resilience amid climate change? (GS-III, 150 words)

Q. How can regional groupings like BRICS strengthen global disaster resilience amid climate change? (15 marks, 250 words)

Climate change is turning disasters into systemic risks to development, economies and human security. Regional groupings like BRICS—covering ten member states across Asia, Africa, the Gulf and Latin America—can pool scale, finance and technology to build collective resilience, complementing global compacts like the Sendai Framework [1][2].

Knowledge and early-warning cooperation - Shared flood risk management and extreme-weather forecasting, deepened through year-long technical consultations feeding the 2026 Ministerial [1]. - Advances Sendai Priority 1 (understanding risk) and multi-hazard early warning across the Global South [2].

Financing resilient infrastructure - The 2026 High-Level Dialogue on "Climate-Smart and Disaster-Resilient Infrastructure" channels partnerships and financing—leveraging the New Development Bank—into resilient assets [1].

Institution and norm building - Progressive architecture from the Udaipur Declaration (2016) to the institutionalised BRICS DRR Group gives resilience a standing multilateral track [1]. - The 2026 theme—"Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability"—embeds India's ten-point DRR agenda into collective action [1][3].

Amplifying Global South voice - Aligns member positions in UNDRR processes, pressing for climate-adaptation finance and technology transfer for vulnerable states [2].

Yet effectiveness hinges on translating declarations into funded, monitored outcomes and reconciling members' differing capacities and priorities. If BRICS converts its ministerial momentum into shared early-warning systems, resilient-infrastructure finance and best-practice exchange—like India's Odisha cyclone model—it can meaningfully advance Sendai targets and reinforce climate-resilient sustainable development for the Global South.

(~250 words)

Sources: 1. BRICS Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction, New Delhi (PIB, 2026) — host/theme, climate-smart infrastructure financing dialogue, NDB, institutional evolution (Udaipur 2016→DRR Group) 2. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (UNDRR) — global DRR priorities, early warning, Global South alignment 3. MoS (Home) Nityanand Rai at NDMA 21st Formation Day — PM's 10-point DRR agenda (PIB) — India's ten-point DRR agenda embedded in cooperation