Need to adopt early warning system urgently to deal with disasters: UNDRR

New Delhi: UN disaster forum UNDRR called upon countries to “think resilience” and asked them to urgently adopt and improve early warning systems to reduce the risks of disasters.

The forum raised these concerns at a summit, which concluded with an outcome document entitled the Bali Agenda for Resilience, which aims to prevent the world from facing “1.5 disasters a day by 2030”.

Delegates from 184 countries gathered in Bali for the 2022 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction, where they reviewed efforts to protect communities against a rising number of climate hazards and other catastrophes globally.

“Early warning systems should be inclusive of communities most at risk with adequate institutional, financial and human capacity to act on early warnings,” said the co-chairs’ summary.

The outcome document also highlighted the need to reassess how risk is governed and policy is designed, as well as institutional arrangements that need to be put in place at global, regional, and national levels.

During the meeting, only 95 countries had reported having multi-hazard early warning systems that give governments, agencies and the general public notice of an impending disaster. Coverage in Africa, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing Countries was particularly low.

Sharing advancements since the last Global Platform in 2019, delegates revealed a 33 per cent increase in the number of countries developing disaster risk reduction strategies and reporting through the Sendai Framework Monitor.

However, theBali Agenda showed that “less than half of the countries reporting against Sendai Framework targets indicate having fit-for purpose, accessible and actionable disaster risk information.”

The Bali Agenda will be carried through to the next UN climate conference, known as COP 27, as well as the next meeting of the G20 leading industrialized nations and Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework.