Climate Risk, Early Warning Systems Prioritize Most Vulnerable
African least developed countries and Pacific Islands will be the first to benefit from upgraded early warning systems against weather and climate-related shocks under an action plan outlined at the
Launched last year at the
"This is a pragmatic, tangible and targeted initiative to protect the most vulnerable. It is realistic and it is feasible," said
Director-General for Global Affairs at the
The initiative builds on existing activities, and investment by CREWS will help leverage much greater funding from the
The CREWS coalition is led by
"The increase in global temperatures is being accompanied by more extreme weather events. In addition to the need for climate change mitigation, there is a very strong need for climate change adaptation. Early warning systems are a very powerful way to adapt to climate change. The CREWS initiative will lead to concrete action which mitigates economic losses and saves lives," WMO Secretary-General
According to WMO, over 80 percent of the world's 48 least developed countries and many small island developing states have only a basic early warning system. Weather observations networks, the foundation of early warning systems, are inadequate in many African countries.
"CREWS can help us reinforce a simple but critical message that people-centered, multi-hazard, early warning systems save lives. By building capacity across stakeholder groups, supporting interagency coordination and leveraging significant resources from development partners, this initiative provides an effective way to reduce risk and build climate resilience," said
"The number of weather and climate related disasters has more than doubled over the past 40 years and this initiative will help reduced the impact of these events on low and middle-income countries which suffer the most,"
Thanks to the CREWS initiative,
Two additional projects are under development for
Prof.
Like other Pacific nations,
"Early warning systems technology, be it radars or radios, are not cheap. But they are a priority for the government because when disaster strikes communications are the first things to go down. It is challenging to access the financing for this equipment. We therefore really welcome this CREWS initiative," said
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