The Caribbean, the first region to launch the initiative to create a universal early warning system

Every year at the same time, the Caribbean region faces a cycle of hurricanes, which in recent years have evolved in strength and frequency due to climate change. For this reason, the region was chosen to launch an initiative for universal access to storm early warning, one of the most effective climate adaptation measures.

Less than half of the Least Developed Countries and only one third of the Small Island Developing States have a multi-hazard early warning system.

For that reason, the General secretary of the UN, Antonio Guterres presented in November the Action Plan of the Early Warnings for All Initiative, which should be completed between 2023 and 2027 and whose initial investments amount to some 3.1 billion dollars.

Fulfilling that call, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Phillip J. Pierre, on Wednesday led efforts to comply with the initiative in the Caribbean.

Life is not seen from the speeches

“Disasters remind us that we are all citizens of the world, whether we like it or not,” said Mottley, who hosted the initiative’s first regional launch in Barbados, calling for stronger global partnerships and civil society cooperation to ensure the success of the initiative.

Mottley, a well-known defender of climate change, stressed that “life is not seen from speeches on a platform, but life is experienced daily (…) We are global citizens and everything is interconnected. We need to work together at all levels , have a more strategic leadership. Disasters speak only one language: destruction”

The event, held at United Nations House, brought together regional leaders and key global officials in support of hazard early warning systems.

“The Caribbean region has been blessed with immense natural beauty, but it is considered to be a global hotspot in terms of natural disasters,” said Pierre, during a virtual speech in which he emphasized the fact that the Caribbean region is the second most disaster prone in the world.

In 2021, the Caribbean faced the fourth most severe hurricane season on record in the region’s history, with 21 storms, seven of them hurricanes.

Adaptation to climate change

The Prime Minister further noted that early warning systems not only save lives, but also provide great economic benefits. “They are considered the low-hanging fruit for adaptation to climate change, because they are relatively cheap compared to the cost of poor planning,” she observed.

However, only 30% of the Caribbean is covered by effective multi-hazard early warning systems.

UN Deputy Secretary General Amina J. Mohammed delivered a clear message through a video address that this must change.

It is not a right but a privilege

“All people in the Caribbean, small island developing States and the world must be protected by an effective multi-hazard early warning system. It is not a privilege, but a right that should be enjoyed by all the inhabitants of the Earth,” he said.

The UN leader pointed out that the Early Warning for All Initiative will try to fill the existing gaps in the four fundamental pillars of early warning systems:

• Understanding catastrophe risk
• Surveillance and forecast
• Communication
• Preparedness and response capacity

To achieve this, the UN intends to raise 3.1 billion dollars.

The special representative of the UN Secretary General for the Disaster Risk ReductionMami Mizutori said, however, that support must go beyond finances. “It’s also about transferring technology and experience,” she said, stressing the need for better data to guide implementation.

Mizutori stated that the Caribbean was ideal for the Initiative’s first regional launch due to the strength of its regional organizations, such as the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

Hurricane Otto in 2016 caused severe environmental and economic damage to Costa Rica. Damage to infrastructure and agricultural production exceeded 236 billion colones (420 million dollars at current exchange rates).

Caribbean Leadership

For her part, Carla Barnett, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), delivered a recorded message in which she offered the support of the multilateral organization, describing the Initiative as “key adaptive response to the inability so far to limit global emissions at a level that keeps global temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels.”

The CARICOM official said that the region has been bearing the brunt of the impact of global warming and praised the leadership shown by Caribbean leaders to initiate the implementation of this plan in the Caribbean.

“In Saint Vincent and the Grenadines we clearly saw the enormous benefits of early warning of multiple hazards in the run-up to the La Soufrière eruption. Despite the enormous damage caused to the infrastructure, early warning and action saved lives,” he stressed.

The highest representative of the UN in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Didier Trebucq, welcomed the launch of the initiative.

Trebucq highlighted that, fortunately, multi-hazard early warning systems have progressed in the Caribbean, but indicated that, although most countries have technical capacities to monitor and anticipate hydrometeorological risks and launch the corresponding alerts, the case is quite different when analyzing existing capacities for geological, biological and technological risks.

Trebucq organized a round table during the event in which Mizutori participated together with QU Dongyu, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP); Gerard Howe, Chairman of the Climate Risks and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and Shajunee Gumbs, CDM Youth Ambassador from Saint Kitts and Nevis.