New funding from Denmark to scale up Early Warnings for All initiative in Africa
Denmark would provide CHF 4.9 million to fund a four-year Early Warning for All implementation project in Africa.
The Early Warnings for All initiative is well underway, but significant gaps are still being identified, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa. Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda face many challenges to improve climate resilience by providing early warning services that help protect populations from the impacts of weather, climate and water-related hazards such as flash floods and droughts. These hazards often result in loss of life and substantial economic and material damages. To support these countries with their climate mitigation efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark announced in March that Denmark would provide CHF 4.9 million to fund a four-year Early Warning for All implementation project.
The Danish project will support immediate action to roll-out activities across the four pillars of the Early Warnings for All initiative: disaster risk knowledge; detection, observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting; warning dissemination and communication; and preparedness and response capabilities. It will further strengthen anticipatory action by leveraging the WMO Coordination Mechanism (WCM) to support the design, delivery and uptake of climate and risk information services for climate action.
Following national consultations in Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark endorsed the project proposal and agreed upon four main goals:
- Develop national Early Warning Systems in five African LDCs
- Support Early Warning and Early/Anticipatory Action in Fragile and Conflict-affected Contexts
- Enhancing Climate Science Information for Climate Action
- Effective Global and Regional Coordination and Support by WMO for Early Warnings for All.
The project will facilitate the implementation of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in the five countries. This includes the production, analysis, interpretation and use of climate and risk information to strengthen MHEWS. It will build capacity in the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to monitor and forecast priority hazards and to generate and disseminate actionable impact-based early warning services. Communities will develop their capacity to respond, prevent or mitigate impacts of climate-related hazards. The countries will also be able to benefit from the development of an enabling policy framework, that fosters effective coordination between relevant agencies and stakeholders.
The Danish project officially launched in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2028.