Climate Information and Early Warning Systems
Thematic area
Early warning systems play a key role in protecting lives, livelihoods and advancing sustainable development by enhancing timely evidence-based decision-making in the face of a rapidly changing climate.
Adopting a whole-of-government approach, UNDP’s main areas of work in this service area include reducing reliance on one type of technology or communication network, developing shared databases, involving communities in product design, information sharing within and between countries, development of climate information infrastructure, climate information dissemination and value chain development, capacity building for modelling and forecasting, use of alternative technologies, private sector engagement and digitization.
Notable partnerships include the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP); Alliance for Hydromet Development and the Systematic Observations Financing Facility.
Stories
Participatory climate services, advanced lightning detection, solar-powered weather stations, and other advanced technologies are saving lives and building resilience in Malawi.
Real time data gathered from new automatic weather stations will be key to improving early warning messages to at-risk communities in the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
With support from the GCF, Georgia has been strengthening the country’s outdated observational network, ensuring the authorities and communities can better anticipate, prepare for, and respond to disasters.
Partnerships
SOFF is a specialized fund co-created by WMO, UNDP and UNEP to close the climate and weather observations data gap in countries with the most severe shortfalls in observations, prioritizing Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. It is a foundational element and delivery vehicle of the global ‘Early Warnings for All’ initiative.
Launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019, the REAP brings together an unprecedented range of stakeholders across the climate, humanitarian, and development communities with the aim of making 1 billion people safer from disaster by 2025.
