Half the World Unprotected as Extreme Weather Hits

Early Warnings Can Slash Disaster Deaths Sixfold
Guterres Urges Global Push for Life-Saving Alerts

Geneva: Funding early alerts is critical as climate threats rise and half the world remains without adequate protection as extreme weather continues to claim lives. Early-warning systems can slash disaster deaths by six times and cut damage by 30 per cent with just 24 hours’ notice.

Over the past five decades, weather, water, and climate-related hazards have killed more than two million people, with 90 per cent of these deaths occurring in developing nations, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports.

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking at the WMO’s 75th anniversary Extraordinary Congress in Geneva today, urged a global push to scale up life-saving early-warning systems. “Early-warning systems work,” Guterres said. “They give farmers the power to protect their crops and livestock. Enable families to evacuate safely. And protect entire communities from devastation.” He noted that just 24 hours’ notice before a hazardous event can reduce damage by up to 30 per cent, while disaster-related mortality is at least six times lower in countries with robust early-warning systems.

The Congress, themed “Closing the Early Warning Gap Together,” brought together 193 member states, which endorsed an urgent Call to Action to ensure everyone, everywhere is protected by multi-hazard alert systems by 2027, in line with the UN’s Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative launched by Guterres in 2022. EW4All aims to ensure comprehensive coverage by integrating risk knowledge, detection, warning dissemination, and preparedness. The initiative is led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for risk knowledge, WMO for detection and forecasting, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for warning dissemination, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for preparedness. EW4All has reportedly facilitated the safe evacuation of 2.1 billion people worldwide from 2015 to 2022.

Globally, over 60 per cent of countries now have multi-hazard early-warning systems, up from 52 per cent in 2015, with least developed countries (LDCs) nearly doubling their capacity. Tools such as the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), which supports 30 priority countries in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, and the WMO Information System 2.0 (WIS 2.0), which enhances data sharing by 60 percent and integrates artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce false alarms at centers including the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), have contributed to reducing crop losses by up to 25 percent in pilot regions, saving billions of dollars in damages. Despite these advances, half of all countries still lack adequate systems, while 16 per cent fall below basic capacity, leaving fragile states such as Sudan, Mozambique, and Haiti particularly vulnerable to floods, cyclones, and heatwaves.

WMO Secretary-General Professor Celeste Saulo emphasised the escalating threats of climate change, stating, “More extreme weather is destroying lives and livelihoods and eroding hard-won development gains.” She highlighted the “profound opportunity to harness climate intelligence and technological advances to build a more resilient future for all,” underscoring the importance of strengthened national meteorological services and the integration of early-warning systems into broader climate adaptation and disaster-risk-reduction strategies.

The Congress’s Call to Action calls for $500 million in funding by 2027, integrated national policies, sustained financing rather than one-off project aid, empowered meteorological services, and robust multi-hazard early-warning chains covering risk knowledge, detection, warning dissemination, and response. Regional initiatives complement global efforts, including Africa’s August 2025 early-warning forum in Nairobi, which facilitated collaboration among 25 nations, and an Arab region meeting scheduled for December 2025 in Djibouti. Additionally, innovations from Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) are being leveraged to enhance predictive models, optimise hazard communication, and strengthen decision-support tools. UNICEF’s child-responsive alert pilots have been integrated in seven countries, while IFRC’s community trust indices monitor local receptiveness and compliance, ensuring that warnings reach and are acted upon by the most vulnerable.

Guterres linked the gaps in early-warning coverage to systemic risks faced by developing countries, including limited fiscal space, slow economic growth, rising debt burdens, and climate-driven losses. “Reaching every community requires a surge in financing,” he said, stressing that scaling early-warning systems is critical to protecting lives, livelihoods, and development gains. He warned that overshooting 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) warming above pre-industrial levels is “inevitable” in the coming years. “One thing is already clear: we will not be able to contain the global warming below 1.5 degrees in the next few years,” he said. “The overshooting is now inevitable. Which will mean that we’re going to have a period, bigger or smaller, with higher or lower intensity, above 1.5 degrees in the years to come.” He added, however, that humanity is “not condemned to live with 1.5 degrees” if countries act swiftly to mitigate emissions and accelerate adaptation measures.

Looking ahead to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, from November 10 to 21, 2025, Guterres urged leaders to agree on a credible plan to mobilise $1.3 trillion annually by 2035 for climate action in developing countries. He called on developed nations to double adaptation funding to $40 billion in 2025 and for the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF), operationalized at COP28 in 2023, to attract “substantial contributions” to meet the needs of the most vulnerable, noting that while $789 million had been pledged by September 2025, only $400 million had been transferred against an estimated $400 billion annual requirement. Italy, for instance, contributed $115 million to the Fund.

The Secretary-General also highlighted the critical role of renewable energy, describing renewables as the “cheapest, fastest and smartest” energy source and the “only credible path to end the relentless destruction of our climate.” He warned against disinformation, online harassment, and greenwashing, emphasising the UN-backed Global Initiative on Climate Change Information Integrity (GICIII). “Scientists and researchers should never fear telling the truth,” he said, expressing solidarity with the scientific community. He praised the WMO’s monitoring and forecasting systems, which enable “warnings and guidance that protect communities and save millions of lives and billions of dollars each year.”

The report underscores that scaling early-warning systems is not merely a technical challenge but also a financial, political, and social imperative. With 90 per cent of weather-related deaths occurring in the Global South, the success of EW4All, regional initiatives, AI-enabled forecasting tools, child-responsive alerts, and community trust measures hinges on turning pledges into concrete funding and policy action before the next disaster strikes.