“We need scientists, operational players, government authorities, public-private partnerships, those who communicate with the general public and local communities. It means jumping out of the comfort zones of our own expertise and thinking out of the box. By working together we can learn together.”

Mr. Elliot Jacks of the US National Weather Service said ‘it was travelling the last mile that really matters’ so that timely, meaningful, and actionable warnings reach and are then used by exposed and vulnerable communities.

Ms. Molly Nielson, Principal Disaster Management Officer, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Samoa, said the Pacific Island nation was developing a multi-hazard warning system that also drew on traditional knowledge. It forms part of a comprehensive disaster risk management programme that has been rolled out in 362 villages.

The session also heard that to be effective, early warning systems need to be grounded in the experiences of people who are most at risk. The inclusion of women, youth, and other vulnerable groups is essential in all aspects of decision making and design.

Target (g) of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a 15-year global agreement adopted in 2015, seeks to ‘substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030’.

Minister Tonoyan was supported by two co-chairs: Mr. Gautier Mignot, Director, Sustainable Development, Ministry of Interior, France, and Ms. Sharon Baghwan Rolls, Coordinator of the FemLINKPACIFIC, Fiji.

France, along with the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR), WMO, and UNISDR, launched the Climate Risk Early Warning System (CREWS) Initiative in 2015. It aims to finance weather stations, radar facilities, and early warning systems in poor and vulnerable countries where weather data is unreliable or lacking.

Date:

24 May 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Climate Change, Early Warning, Disaster Risk Management