16.11.2017
Early results of Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative presented at climate change conference - Vulnerable communities in Africa and the Pacific and Caribbean are now benefiting from improved early warning systems against extreme weather as part of an international drive to boost resilience and climate change adaptation. But further investments are needed to reduce the risks from hazards like tropical cyclones, floods and drought.
A ministerial event at the United Nations climate change conference on 15 November was presented with the first results from the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative. Launched at the Paris climate change negotiations in 2015, CREWS aims to mobilize US$100 million by 2020 to save lives and support sustainable development.
Quelle: World Meteorological Organisation WMO
“In the Paris Agreement era, it is unacceptable that populations are not forewarned of an impending weather disaster. Let us now reinforce support for CREWS, launched in Paris at COP21, to enable the most vulnerable to benefit from effective early warning systems” said Nicolas Hulot, French Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition.
“We are seeing an increase in global temperatures and a growing number of disasters,” said World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, pointing to this year’s devastating Atlantic hurricane season, as well as floods, heatwaves and forest fires. “in addition to climate change mitigation we have to pay attention to adaptation. A very powerful way to adapt to climate change is to invest in climate services and early warning systems. CREWS is contributing in a very positive manner to achieve that target.”
In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, CREWS is supporting the improvement of operational hydro-meteorological forecasts and early warning services, with an emphasis on flood and drought-related risks. There is a special focus on early warnings for agriculture, food security and civil protection. There is a similar project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the Pacific, CREWS is strengthening hydro-meteorological and early warning services for islands including Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue and Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Tokelau.
The CREWS initiative was first announced at the Sendai Disaster Risk Reduction Conference. It builds on existing activities and enables countries to access additional resources from the Green Climate Fund and other sources.
“Without CREWS we wouldn’t have had a basis for this,” said Laura Tuck, Vice President for Sustainable Development, World Bank Group. “We need to extend the reach of CREWS and build on what is already working. When we have early warning systems in place and have high quality forecasts and get the warnings out, we actually save lives,” she added.
There is a special focus on women, who play an important role in responding to early warnings , and are very effective ambassadors to build resilience.
The CREWS Steering Committee last week approved a new project, “Weather and Climate Early Warning System for Papua New Guinea.” It aims to improved control and maintenance of the existing drought and flood monitoring network and tailored early warnings for the agriculture sector and disaster managers, with an investment totalling US$1,650,000.
The Steering Committee also approved a project for the Caribbean to review the effectiveness of the early warning systems for the recent hurricanes Irma and Maria. It will also address immediate forecasting requirements of affected countries through WMO global and regional centres.
Albert Martis, Curacao and St Maarten Permanent Representative to WMO, recalled the devastation inflicted by major hurricanes in close succession this year. He said Hurricane Irma knocked out all communications on the island of St Maarten, but authorities still managed to issue emergency warnings for another major hurricane, Jose, which was expected to impact St Maarten four days later. Thanks to good early warnings, the loss of life was minimized even though the island of St Maarten was barely recognizable after the disaster, he said.
The CREWS is a coalition of Australia, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Canada is aligning resources. It is being implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Bank, and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) with support of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
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.
