FIGURE 6 While the intensity of wildfires grows globally, and their economic and social costs rise, funding remains concentrated on suppression and recovery rather than prevention. Post-disaster funding rarely offsets the escalating social and economic toll of disasters. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s (UNDRR) 2025 Global Assessment Report36 estimates annual direct costs of disasters have climbed from $70–80 billion per year (1970–2000) to $180–200 billion per year (2001–2020) and exceed $2.3 trillion per year when cascading effects on health, livelihoods and supply chains are included.37 In the case of wildfires, it is estimated that more than $215 billion in assets were exposed to wildfires globally between 2024 and 2025 (Figure 6), with $57 billion in realized direct damages recorded by EM-DAT, including $53 billion caused by fires affecting Los Angeles and Southern California.38 Despite the rising costs, disaster-related aid remains overwhelmingly reactive. Over 95% of disaster aid (2005–2017) was allocated to response and reconstruction, with less than 4% going to prevention or preparedness.39 Portugal represents a rare reversal, shifting its wildfire spending from suppression to prevention. The country increased prevention spending (of the national integrated rural fire management system) from around 20% in 2017 to approximately 60% in 2022, resulting in spending less on suppression than on prevention since 2020.40 Meanwhile, most countries remain stuck in a reactive recovery model. Reorienting investment towards resilience is essential for long-term risk reduction, loss avoidance and economic development.0.5 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 10.02024−2025 population exposure (million people) by country 2024−2025 asset exposure (billion, $) by country Population exposure (million people) in March 2024–February 2025 Asset exposure (billion, $) in March 2024–February 2025 0.5 1.0 2.0 5.0 10.0 20.0Population and physical asset exposure to wildfires Source: Kelley, D.I. et al. (2025). State of Wildfires 2024–2025. Earth System Science Data, vol. 17, issue 10. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5377-2025. 1.3 The economic cost of inaction and the future that awaits Environmental resilience can be defined as the ability of a system to cope with the full range of hazards interlinked within each landscape, including the ability to “resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from” hazard impacts.41 Within this broader context, this paper focuses on wildfire as a focal peril through which broader resilience can be advanced. Wildfire resilience lacks a single definition but extends beyond “bouncing back” to emphasize adaptation, transformation and continuous learning “building back better”.42 1.4 How resilience is defined and measured From Wildfire Risk to Resilience: The Investment Case for Action 10

From Wildfire Risk to Resilience The Investment Case for Action 2026