📍Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal | Speaking at the 2025 4th Southern African Drone, AI & GIS in Disaster Risk Management Conference, the Head of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), Dr Elias Sithole, highlighted the alignment between the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Working Group’s agenda and regional disaster management priorities.

Dr Sithole spoke on the importance of local ownership, ethical and community-centred drone applications, and the integration of space and geographic information systems (GIS) to enhance early warning systems and improve disaster response.

“Our national agencies are harnessing space and GIS technologies at scale. The NDMC is integrating GIS into an enhanced National Disaster Information System, the backbone for risk assessment, situation analysis and early warning delivery across all provinces and municipalities,” Dr Sithole said.

He further commended the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) for positioning Earth observation and space-based services as central tools for early warning and risk monitoring.

Dr Sithole called for the institutionalisation of local partnerships, shared data standards, and open data repositories to strengthen regional resilience. He noted that locally owned drone programmes are faster, more ethical, and sustainable, helping governments plan more eXectively through validated hazard maps and data products.

Highlighting the G20 DRR Working Group’s voluntary principles for investing in resilience, Dr Sithole emphasised that these can catalyse innovation and local manufacturing opportunities that support last-mile disaster preparedness and response, particularly in municipalities.

He concluded by urging investment in AI co-designed with communities, drone technician training, and the establishment of regional centres of excellence.

“The increasing frequency and complexity of disasters in South Africa demand innovative, data-driven and anticipatory approaches. Partnerships such as those convened by High- Rise Africa show how regional knowledge networks can be scaled with targeted investment,” he said.