The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will lead a project whose aim is to protect the entire population of the planet from the onslaught of extreme events caused by climate change, while helping to adapt to this phenomenon.
The initiative was launched to mark World Meteorology Day, which this year promotes early warning and disaster risk reduction measures.
The action plan to achieve this goal in five years will be presented at the next UN climate conferencenext November in Egypt.
In launching the initiative, the United Nations noted that extreme weather, climate and water events are becoming more frequent and intense in many parts of the world as a result of climate change. Due to population growth, urbanization and environmental degradation, populations are more than ever exposed to acute multiple threats.
Despite the importance of weather forecasts in saving lives and livelihoods, a third of the world’s population is still not covered by early warning systems, particularly in least developed countries and small island developing States. In Africa, the rate of lack of protection reaches 60% of its inhabitants.
United Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres called this lack of access “unacceptable as climate impacts will continue to worsen.
Guterres warned that humancaused climate disruption is affecting all regions, recalling that rising global temperatures will continue to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.
“We need to invest equally in adaptation and resilience. This includes the information that allows us to predict storms, heat waves, floods and droughts.he said in his message for World Meteorology Day announcing the initiative.
“Let’s recognize the value of early warning and action as critical tools to reduce disaster risk and support climate change adaptation. Early warning systems save lives. Let’s make sure they work for everyone,” said the UN SecretaryGeneral.
On this day, the WMO highlighted that Better coordination between national meteorological and hydrological services, civil protection authorities and development agencies is essential to improve prevention, preparedness and response to such events.
To highlight the frequency of climate phenomena, the United Nations specialized agency reported weather, climate or waterrelated disasters have increased fivefold in the last 50 yearswith one occurring almost every day causing the deaths of 115 people and losses of $202 million.
Despite these high numbers, the WMO clarified that the death toll has fallen almost three times over the same period, thanks to better warnings and forecasts and proactive and coordinated disaster management.
The department pointed this out The pandemic has shown that in today’s interconnected world, a crossrisk and crossborder approach is necessary to advance the global goals of climate change mitigation, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
“Being prepared and able to act at the right time and place can save many lives and protect the livelihoods of communities around the world, now and in the future,” WMO said.
According to Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Around $1.5 billion would have to be invested over the next five years to improve the quality of services and infrastructure related to early warning systems, “especially in the least developed countries and small island developing states”.
Data from the Global Commission on Adaptation shows that early warning systems offer a return on investment of more than 10 times, and that With just 24 hours of warning of an impending storm or heat wave, damage can be reduced by 30%.
They also show that $800 million is being invested in such systems in developing countries would avoid losses between $3 and $16 billion per year.
“The increasing number of disasters caused by climate change is jeopardizing the achievement of a wide range of Sustainable Development Goals. In addition to the very critical climate protection, it is becoming increasingly important to invest in climate adaptation. One of the highest returns on investment comes from improving weather, water and climate early warning services, Taalas pointed out.
The WMO SecretaryGeneral explained that an early warning system for a flood, drought, heat wave or storm is a set of integrated tools and resources that let people know dangerous weather is coming and how governments, communities and individuals can respond minimize impending effects.
These systems make it possible to monitor land and sea atmospheric conditions in real time and to effectively predict future weather and climate events using advanced numerical computer models. The aim is to understand what risks the foreseeable storms entail for the affected area.
Early warning systems must include agreed response plans for governments, communities and individuals to minimize anticipated impacts.
A comprehensive early warning system must also consider lessons learned from past events to continuously improve responses to future weather, climate, water and related environmental hazards.
(With information from UN News)