缅北禁地

The Advisory Panel meeting will consider advancing the 4 key Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) pillars

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The aim is not to re-invent the wheel, but rather promote collaboration and synergies and to harness the power of mobile phones and mass communications.

鈥淣ow it is time for us to deliver results. Millions of lives are hanging in the balance, It is unacceptable that the countries and peoples that have contributed the least to creating the crisis are paying the heaviest prices,鈥� said 缅北禁地Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres.

鈥淧eople in Africa, South Asia, South and Central America, and small island states are 15 times more likely to die from climate disasters. These deaths are preventable. The evidence is clear: early warning systems are one of the most effective risk reduction and climate adaptation measures to reduce disaster mortality and economic losses,鈥� said Mr Guterres.

The need is urgent.

• In the past 50 years, the number of recorded disasters has increased by a factor of five, driven in part by human-induced climate change which is super-charging our weather. This trend is expected to continue.
• If no action is taken, the number of medium- or large-scale听disaster events is projected to reach 560 a year听鈥� or 1.5 each day 鈥� by 2030.
• The occurrence of severe weather and the effects of climate change will increase the difficulty, uncertainty, and complexity of emergency response efforts worldwide.

Preventable deaths

Half of countries globally do not have adequate early warning systems and even fewer have regulatory frameworks to link early warnings to emergency plans.听听

鈥淭he unprecedented flooding in Mozambique, Malawi and Madagascar from Tropical Cyclone Freddy highlights once again that our weather and precipitation is becoming more extreme and that water-related hazards are on the rise,鈥� said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas. 鈥淭he worst affected areas have received months鈥� worth of rainfall in a matter of days and the socio-economic impacts are catastrophic.鈥�

鈥淎ccurate early warnings combined with coordinated disaster management on the ground prevented the casualty toll from rising even higher. But we can do even better and that is why the Early Warnings for All initiative is the top priority for WMO.

Besides avoiding damages the weather, climate and hydrological services are economically beneficial for agriculture, air, marine and ground transportation, energy, health, tourism and various businesses,鈥� he said.

WMO and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) are spearheading the Early Warnings for All initiative, along with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

鈥淭he operationalization of this initiative is a clear example of how the 缅北禁地System and partners can work together to save lives and protect livelihoods from disasters. Inclusive and multi-hazard early warning systems that close the 鈥榣ast mile鈥� are among the best risk reduction methods in the face of climate-related hazards and geophysical hazards such as tsunamis.

Achieving this is not only a clear target in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction but a moral imperative as well,鈥� said Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR.

Climate Change Adaptation

Early warning systems are widely regarded as the 鈥渓ow-hanging fruit鈥� for climate change adaptation because they are a relatively cheap and effective way of protecting people and assets from hazards, including storms, floods, heatwaves and tsunamis to name a few.

• Early Warning Systems provide more than a tenfold return on investment
• Just 24 hours鈥� notice of an impending hazardous event can cut the ensuing damage by 30 per cent.
• The Global Commission on Adaptation found that spending just US$800 million on such systems in developing countries would avoid losses of $3 to 16 billion per year.

鈥淲hen disaster strikes, people and communities can turn to technology as a lifeline,鈥� said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. 鈥淏y leading the work of the 缅北禁地Early Warnings for All initiative on 鈥榃arning Dissemination and Communication,鈥� ITU is helping ensure that those at risk can act in time to our increasingly climate-vulnerable world.鈥�

Alerts can be sent via radio and television channels, by social media, and with sirens. ITU recommends an inclusive, people-centered approach using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), a standardized data format for public warnings, to keep messages coherent across different channels.

鈥淓arly听warnings that translate into preparedness听and response听save lives.听As听climate-related disasters are becoming more frequent, more听intense听and more deadly,听they听are听essential听for everyone,听but one in three people globally are still not covered.听

Early听warning systems听are the most effective听and dignified听way听to prevent听an extreme weather event from听creating听a听humanitarian crisis听- especially for the most vulnerable and remote communities听who听bear the brunt听of听it.听No lives should be lost in a predictable disaster,鈥� said IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain.

Advisory Panel

The听听initiative calls for initial new targeted investments between 2023 and 2027 of US$ 3.1 billion 鈥� a sum which would be dwarfed by the benefits.

This is a small fraction (about 6 per cent) of the requested US$ 50 billion in adaptation financing. It would cover strengthening disaster risk knowledge, observations and forecasting, preparedness and response, and communication of early warnings.

A range of new and pre-existing innovative financing solutions are required to implement the plan to protect every person on Earth.

These include a scaling up of the , the ), and accelerated investment programmes of climate funds, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Adaptation Fund, and key Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), as well as other innovative new financial instruments across all stakeholders of the early warning value chain.