WMO Report Reveals Major Gaps in Global Early Warning Systems' Monitoring Capacity
SDG 13: Climate Action | SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Institutions: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published a Rapid Assessment focusing on the hazard monitoring and forecasting pillar (Pillar 2) of the UN’s “Early Warnings for All” (EW4All) initiative, which aims to ensure every person on Earth is protected by Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) by 2027. The assessment, covering 30 priority countries, found substantial deficiencies in the foundational scientific infrastructure. The aggregate results show that nearly a quarter of these highly vulnerable countries operate with less-than-basic capacity for monitoring and forecasting their primary hazards, and only half have basic capacity.
A major finding was the widespread failure in maintaining observation infrastructure. A significant portion of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) reported that existing weather stations are inoperable or lack the maintenance capacity for regular quality control. Furthermore, the temporal frequency of data often fails to comply with WMO’s Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) requirements, severely impeding the real-time data exchange necessary to feed global forecasting models.
The report highlights critical shortcomings in the foundational scientific infrastructure that underpin national disaster risk reduction efforts worldwide. For India, a country highly vulnerable to hydrometeorological events, the findings underscore the urgency of addressing observation network gaps and ensuring sustained domestic financing for maintenance and upgrades to fully operationalize end-to-end early warning systems, which is vital for resilience and climate justice.
What is a Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS)? A MHEWS is an integrated system that manages risks from multiple hazards (such as floods, droughts, heatwaves, and cyclones) by incorporating four pillars: disaster risk knowledge, detection and forecasting, warning dissemination, and preparedness and response capabilities. It is designed to be people-centered, ensuring that warnings are accessible, understandable, and actionable by all individuals and communities in harm’s way.
Follow the full news here: https://library.wmo.int/records/item/69643-early-warnings-for-all-in-focus-hazard-monitoring-and-forecasting