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Task Team on Early Warnings for All

Activity Areas (1)

Research Board

Overview

The United Nations Secretary-General announced, on World Meteorological Day 2022, that the United Nations will spearhead a new action to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected by Early Warning Systems within five years. The initiative is called Early Warnings for All (EW4All). Pillar 2 (Detection, observation, monitoring, analysis and forecasting) is led by WMO with support from UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Pillar 1 (Risk knowledge and Management) is led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Pillar 3 (Warning dissemination and communication) is led by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Pillar 4 (Preparedness and Response) is led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The strategic alignment of pillar activities is overseen by the Early Warnings for All Advisory Panel, co-chaired by the Executive Heads of WMO and UNDRR. 

The Research Board recognizes that: 

  1. Research Programmes sponsored and co-sponsored by WMO include activities that are relevant and useful for all four pillars of the EW4A Initiative.
  2. The pipeline for research to operations for new scientific and technical products is typically several years.
  3. Relevant hazards and salient knowledge to address these hazards depend on location and context, including capacity and resources.
  4. Regions are innovating with what they already have, but successes are not always captured in ways they can be of use within and across Regions.  

As a result, the Research Board concluded that, with a goal of prospective risk reduction in support of effective early action, research can contribute to achieving the ambitious goal of early warnings for all by 2027 through identifying, understanding and propagating best practices in the early warning value cycle. 

Main Tasks 

The TT-EW4All highlights and documents existing, planned, and recommended activities of Research Programmes that can be aligned and amplified through EW4All initiative. Its objectives are to:  

  1. Coordinate between WMO sponsored and co-sponsored Research Programmes and WMO bodies, including the ET-EWS, the SC-DRR, the CDP, the Services and Infrastructure Commissions, Regional Associations, and Members, to better understand where targeted physical and social science research will support the urgent requirement to build effective multi-hazard early warning institutions, infrastructures and processes;
  2. Identify from current research activities the emerging and future hazards and effective responses to them, that have not yet been identified through the WMO Roadmap process, including for example compound and cascading hazards or hazards arising from a retreating cryosphere, in support of the development of novel monitoring and early warning systems for affected Members;
  3. Participate in engagement, communication and partnership with partner bodies through international conferences, workshops and other forums; and
  4. Regularly report progress to the Research Board and seek its guidance.  

An important criterion for priority activities will be the identification of successful innovation across the national to regional weather and climate enterprise, including within National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and other relevant agencies, academia, and the private sector. Additional criteria are: 

  1. activities that focus on the 30 initial countries identified by the UN SG 
  2. research that can lead to outcomes that are actionable in the short term in contributing to the EW4All Initiative. 

📄 TT-EW4All Terms of Reference can be found here.