U.N. unveils $3.1B plan for early warning system initiative

The United Nations has launched the Executive Action Plan for its Early Warning Initiative for the Implementation of Climate Adaptation. The plan calls to invest $3.1 billion USD between 2023 and 2027 to enhance multi-hazard early warning systems worldwide.

Multi-hazard early warning systems would help anticipate extreme weather events like floods, storms, drought, or heatwaves. The U.N. says that such early warning systems are an effective and feasible way to adapt to the changing climate. It could not only save lives but “provide a tenfold return on investment,” according to the World Meteorological Organization, which serves as the U.N.’s specialized agency for meteorology.

The current executive plan would invest $3.1 billion to support four key pillars of implementation:

1. Disaster risk knowledge: Focuses on supporting countries’ disaster risk information and assessments. Countries would receive help in systematically collecting data and undertaking disaster risk assessments.
2. Observations and forecasting: Would help nations develop hazard monitoring and early warning services, enhancing their ability to detect extreme weather events.
3. Warning dissemination and communication: Focuses on helping develop the infrastructure to communicate this risk information through early warnings to every person at risk.
4. Preparedness and response capabilities: Would build a country’s national and community-level response abilities to help ensure that communities are ready to react to warnings.

In March of 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced that the U.N. would spearhead an initiative to promote early warning systems worldwide. Now, after the plan's release, Guterres is establishing an advisory board for the plan’s implementation, which will include key members who helped shape the plan.

A multi-hazard early warning system can help communities know that dangerous weather events are on their way, and provides information as to how governments, communities, and individuals can help minimize impacts of the event.

The World Meteorological Organization finds that there are significant gaps for these systems worldwide: only half of its members report having such a system in place, and even fewer have their systems supported by legislation/policy. An early report by the U.N., Global Status of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems, found that, during disasters, countries with weaker early warning coverage could have mortality rates eight times higher than those of countries with substantial coverage.