Climate Information and Early Warning Systems

Early Warning Systems (EWS) are a proven cost-effective disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measure which has been demonstrated to save lives, livelihoods and ecosystems in the face of climate-related hazards.

With climate change, the frequency and intensity of climate-related hazards is expected to increase. Impact-based people-centred Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) have a great potential to avert disaster risk and minimize loss & damage caused by climate-related hazards through supporting well-informed science-based decision-making. Giving just 24 hours' notice of an impending hazardous event could reduce damage by 30 percent, while investing just US$800 million in MHEWS in developing countries would prevent losses of $3 to $16 billion annually.

Launched at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27), the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All Initiative (EW4All) articulates four pillars for implementation of MHEWS: (1) Risk Knowledge and Management; (2) Observations and Forecasting; (3) Dissemination and Communication; (4) Preparedness to Respond. Aligned with the UN-wide initiative, UNEP’s Climate Information and Early Warning Systems (CIEWS) portfolio focuses on holistic strengthening of all the four key elements of MHEWS, which in turn underpin evidence-based policy, planning and early action.

HIGHLIGHTS

• An early warning system for disasters takes shape in Timor-Leste
• How Early Warnings For All Helps To Reduce The Vulnerability of Maldives

WHY IT MATTERS

If exceeding 1.5°C, global warming would cause significant increases in multiple climate hazards and present various risks to humans and ecosystems¹. Multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) are an effective disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measure that have been demonstrated to save people’s lives and reduce losses and damages. Yet currently they only cover a half of the countries in the world².

 

WHAT WE DO

Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems

We help countries across the world to increase access to high-quality weather and climate data, forecasting and MHEWS which underpin evidence-based policy and early action. Core components of our initiatives include strengthening institutional frameworks for climate information and MHEWS, enhancing capacity for monitoring, analysis and forecasting of climate and its impacts, improving dissemination and communication of risk information and early warnings, and enhancing climate risk management capacity.

By implementing the following best practices, we ensure that our initiatives are sustainable, drive transformational change, and that risk information and early warnings reach the last mile:

• Addressing all elements of early warning systems in an integrated manner to ensure that accurate, timely and actionable information reaches everyone that needs it.
• Investing in the entire value chain of climate services, from national institutional strengthening to building preparedness capabilities at the community level.
• Engaging multiple stakeholders by bringing on board a wide range of ministries, agencies, private sector actors, NGOs, women’s groups and communities to enhance cooperation and synergies between both producers and users of CIEWS.
• Addressing cross-cutting issues through an emphasis on social inclusion and gender responsiveness throughout the project cycle.

Weather and climate data

We support the most vulnerable countries to close critical weather and climate data gaps which helps to develop better weather forecasts, early warning systems and climate information services. To this end, UNEP co-founded the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) and is also one of its implementing entities. SOFF projects include the following key components:

• Enhancement of weather and climate observation networks to facilitate compliance with the international Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) standard;
• Strengthening human and institutional capacity necessary to deliver on the GBON requirements;
• Strengthening ICT infrastructure for weather and climate data collection, storage and sharing.

FACTS

• Giving just 24 hours' notice of an impending hazardous event could reduce damage by 30 percent, while investing just US$800 million in MHEWS in developing countries would prevent losses of $3 to $16 billion annually.³
• Only half of the countries worldwide report being equipped with the capability to alert their citizens about impending hazardous weather conditions.
• Coverage is less than 50% in Less Developed Countries and only one-third among Small Island Developing States.

PARTICIPATION IN UN-WIDE INITIATIVES

Early Warnings for All Initiative

The Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4All) was launched by the UN Secretary-General in November 2022 at COP27. The Initiative calls for the whole world to be covered by an early warning system by the end of 2027. EW4All is co-led by WMO and UNDRR and is supported by pillar leads ITU and IFRC. UNEP is one of the implementing partners under the initiative.

The Executive Action Plan of EW4All articulates four pillars for implementation of people-centred multi-hazard early warning systems:

• Pillar 1: Risk Knowledge and Management;
• Pillar 2: Observations and Forecasting;
• Pillar 3: Dissemination and Communication;
• Pillar 4: Preparedness to Respond.

UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Andersen is a member of the Advisory Panel under EW4All, which was created to monitor and report on the progress of the initiative to the UN Secretary-General, to build political and overall momentum and support for the initiative, to provide recommendations for the mobilization of resources, and to monitor scientific and technical development related to early warning systems. UNEP is also actively taking part in the work of technical working groups under Pillar 1 and Pillar 2.

Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF)

SOFF was co-founded by WMO, UNDP and UNEP and launched at COP26 to address the long-standing problem of missing weather and climate observations from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS). SOFF supports LDCs and SIDS by providing grant financing and technical assistance for the sustained collection and international exchange of surface-based weather and climate observations in alignment with the international Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) regulations, i.e higher resolution, real-time observations that feed into global forecasting and prediction systems for the global public good. UNEP plays an important role in SOFF as its co-founder, co-chair of the Advisory Board and an implementing entity.

ONGOING PROJECTS

• Enhancing Early Warning Systems to build greater resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards in Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste is a Least Developed Country (LDC) and a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) which is in the process of re-building its government systems and infrastructure after 25 years of conflict. Climate change poses significant challenges to the country’s development through rising mean temperatures, sea level rise, tropical cyclones, floods and prolonged droughts. The GCF-funded project will help to expand and upgrade Timor-Leste’s climate information capabilities and early warning systems which are vital to the country’s response to climate change.

• Enhancing Climate Information and Knowledge Services for resilience in 5 island countries of the Pacific Ocean

The five programme countries - Cook Islands, Niue, Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and Tuvalu – are extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts and climate-related hazards, including rising sea levels, increases in extreme waves, tropical cyclones and storms and changing rainfall patterns due to their geography and lack of resilience to shocks. The limited adaptation capacity is aggravated by financial and human resource constraints, as well as economic reliance on particularly climate sensitive sectors such as subsistence farming, fisheries and tourism. This GCF-funded programme aims to support increased climate-resilient sustainable development of the five countries through increased generation and use of climate information in decision making, strengthened adaptive capacity and reduced exposure to climate risks and strengthened awareness of climate threats and risk-reduction processes.

PARTNERSHIPS

UNEP is a member of the key international partnerships which bring together various partners to unite efforts for climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction

• Early Warnings for All (EW4All)
• Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF)
• Alliance for Hydromet Development
• Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP)