As both the Paris Agreement and the Sendai Framework mark ten years of implementation, their respective indicator systems are increasingly revealing a shared opportunity: greater coherence and coordination between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
The adoption of the Belém Adaptation Indicators at COP30 represents a decisive step in this direction. For the first time, the Global Goal on Adaptation is supported by a comprehensive set of indicators that make progress measurable, reviewable and trackable over time, while remaining voluntary, country-driven and non-prescriptive.
Crucially, a number of these indicators draw directly on disaster risk reduction concepts that have been operational for years-such as mortality and morbidity from climate-related hazards, economic losses, damage to infrastructure, risk assessments and coverage of multi-hazard early warning systems.Their inclusion reflects a clear understanding among Parties that adaptation outcomes must be assessed both through real-world risk and impact data, as well as through policies, plans and investments.
This convergence is particularly evident in GGA Target 10(a), which focuses on climate risk assessments and the establishment of multi-hazard early warning systems. These elements closely align with Sendai Framework Target G, reinforcing the focus toward anticipatory, prevention-oriented risk management. Together, they also underpin the UN Secretary-General's Early Warnings for All initiative, where Sendai Framework indicators already serve as a core monitoring foundation.
UNDRR supported this alignment throughout the indicator development process, contributing technical inputs under the Glasgow-Sharm el-Sheikh work programme and the subsequent United Arab Emirates-Belém work programme, and finally as a member of the technical expert group that informed the final set of indicators. Drawing on experience from nearly a decade of Sendai Framework monitoring, UNDRR helped ensure that the GGA indicators build on existing national data systems, strengthen policy coherence, and remain practical for implementation.
The value of this approach is concrete. As of October 2025, 171 UN Member States are reporting against Sendai Framework indicators, generating a substantial body of official, nationally owned data on risk, losses and resilience. Leveraging this existing evidence base for adaptation tracking can reduce duplication, ease reporting burdens and improve consistency across global frameworks, as repeatedly emphasized by Parties at COP28 and COP29.
With targets and indicators now agreed, attention must shift to how data is used in practice. Indicators alone do not deliver resilience; it is how countries collect, integrate and apply data that determines whether the Global Goal on Adaptation translates into real-world impact.
Making data work for resilience means leveraging existing disaster risk reduction and climate data systems, strengthening disaggregated risk and impact data-particularly for vulnerable groups-and ensuring that information supports learning and decision-making, not only reporting. Improving interoperability across climate, disaster risk and development data systems will be essential for guiding action, targeting resources effectively and protecting development gains in a rapidly changing climate.