Faced with a record rise in extreme weather, the United Nations on Wednesday announced a new, ambitious goal: to place all people worldwide under an early warning system of natural disasters over the next five years.
An integrated early warning system for floods, droughts, heatwaves or storms warns people of dangerous storms to come, and notifies governments, communities and individuals to minimise their impact.
The World Meteorology Organisation (WMO) has been given the task of taking the initiative and putting forward an action plan at the upcoming UN climate change conference (Cop27) in Egypt in November.
The WMO estimates that a plan to keep a third of the world’s population from being exposed to early warning would cost $1.5 billion (€1.14 billion), adding that it would be distributed over the next five years and will be funded largely by rich governments.
Despite the many advantages outlined in the UN-backed Adapt Now report for 2019, including a tenfold increase in investment returns, one in three people worldwide still has no cover.
The plan to achieve this bold goal will be presented at the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in November.
Although the number of registered disasters has increased fivefold during this time, increased early warning and disaster management have saved many lives.
The number of registered disasters has also multiplied five-fold during the period, owing to man-made climate change, more extreme weather events, and improved reporting.
