Africa Regional Platform: early warnings reduce disaster risks

The session, from 21 to 24 October, kicked off with several events including the Early Warnings for All Multi-Stakeholder Forum for Africa, which brought together stakeholders from many African countries and regional and international organizations, including WMO.

The event is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Namibia and organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the African Union Commission in collaboration with the Southern African Development Community.

Hon. John Mutorwa, Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia and Minister of Works and Transport, noted that disasters do not discriminate between countries around the world and that Namibia often experiences floods and droughts that are exacerbated by climate change. There is a need to accelerate efforts to improve early warning systems in Namibia and Africa. 

More than 100,000 people in Africa died or were declared missing because of disasters in Africa between 2013 and 2022, according to Sendai Framework Monitor data, whilst  131 million more had their lives disrupted, said Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Head of UNDRR.

“Many of these deaths could have been averted through better early warning and early action. Countries with effective multi-hazard early warning systems have disaster death rates that are six times lower than countries without,” he said. 

However, only 20 countries in Africa, or 45 per cent of the region, reported having multi-hazard early warning systems as of last year’s global status report, which UNDRR authors with WMO. While this is progress from 2015, when only 9 countries reported having such systems, it is still far below our goal of 100% coverage, noted Mr Kishore.

“The Early Warnings For All initiative offers a transformative opportunity for Africa. It highlights the critical need for timely, accurate forecasts and strong early warning systems—essential tools to help communities prepare for and respond to extreme weather events.  Our response must be holistic and collaborative, uniting government, civil society, the private sector, and academia to share knowledge, resources, and innovative and achievable solutions,” WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett told delegates.

National Meteorological and Hydrological Services attended the Multi-Stakeholder Forum thanks to generous support from the Climate Risk and Early Warnings Systems Initiative (CREWS).

WFP/Nkole Mwape

Climate change worsens extreme weather 

Delegates at the multi-stakeholder forum described experiences with the floods that have caused devastation and displacement this year in East, central and West Africa, as well as preparedness and response efforts related to the relentless drought in Namibia and many parts of southern Africa.

There were catastrophic floods in East Africa early this year and, more recently, in central and west Africa.

The heavy precipitation was in line with seasonal outlooks from WMO regional climate centres in Africa and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. 

Exceptionally heavy rainfall in Sudan displaced about 140,000 people from their homes and contributed to the collapse of a dam on 25 August, killing at at least 69 people. The widespread flooding has affected more than 490,000 people are affected, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

Non-stop rainfall since July also caused severe floods in 15 countries across West and Central Africa, including Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger, killing hundreds of people and affecting more than 4 million, according to OCHA. In Nigeria alone, more than 300 people died and 1.2 million were affected, including by the deadly collapse on 10 September of a dam, which saw water surge into the city of Maiduguri.

A new study from scientists at World Weather Attribution said the floods were worsened by human-caused climate change and could be expected to occur on average every 3-10 years. It said the deadly dam failures highlight the need to improve flood defences. 

The study included scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Sudan, Egypt, Kenya, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Multi-Stakeholder Forum

The following three themes emerged from the Multi-Stakeholder Forum:

• Accelerated finance, including scaling up existing mechanisms, linkages across them, and mobilising resources, needed to leverage resilience dividends. 
• Broadening collaboration and coordination for scaled up action, including national commitment from communities and expanded technical support and capacity ensuring MHEWS are people centered and deliver tangible results to the communities they serve. 
• It is imperative to invest in National and Meteorological Hydrological Services and recognize them as the official and authoritative source of forecasts and warnings.

These outcomes will be fed into The High-Level Meeting of the 9th Africa Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction takes place 24 October. Organized once every three years, it will seek to build a consensus on the way forward to enable Member States to deliver on their commitments to the Sendai Framework and the Programme of Action for its implementation in Africa, thereby contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.

Fragile, Conflict and Violent Contexts

At the multi-stakeholder forum, a new handbook was launched on Early Warning Systems and Early Action in Fragile, Conflict and Violent (FCV) Contexts. It is a product of the Centre of Excellence for Climate and Disaster Resilience (CoE), hosted by UNDRR and WMO, together with its partners. 

The scaling up of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in FCV contexts is a critical matter for saving lives and livelihoods, as well as a vital component of climate adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Countries facing risks compounded by fragility, conflict and violence comprise 19 of the top 25 most climate-vulnerable States.