The 2nd Meeting of BRICS Ministers for Disaster Management was held on August 22-23, 2016 in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. The meeting was chaired by India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, who is also a UNISDR Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction. Key outcomes of the Udaipur meeting:

• Adopted the Udaipur Declaration, which laid out an 8-point agenda focused on reducing disaster losses through integrating disaster risk management into sustainable development, exchanging best practices, investing in DRM, improving early warnings, and strengthening disaster risk governance.
• Established a Joint Task Force on Disaster Risk Management to facilitate regular dialogue, exchange, mutual support and collaboration among BRICS nations on disaster management.
• Agreed on a roadmap for implementing the St. Petersburg Joint Action Plan (2016-2018) adopted at the 1st BRICS Disaster Management Ministers meeting in 2016.

The Udaipur Declaration reinforced BRICS countries’ commitments to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. With over 40% of the world’s population residing in BRICS nations, the declaration recognized the growing disaster losses and increasing exposure of people, economies and assets to natural hazards in these countries.

Minister Rijiju emphasized the need to visualize future risks from current development decisions to ensure disaster-resilient infrastructure. He advocated an all-of-society approach involving all stakeholders beyond just governments.

The meeting was attended by disaster management ministers/representatives from all BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It aimed to strengthen collaborative efforts on disaster risk reduction and resilience among the BRICS bloc.