Overview:

• Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, announced this project in association with the World Meteorological Organisation based in Geneva.
• This project aims to make the alert systems that are already in use in many rich countries available to the planet’s developing countries.
• One-third of the Earth’s population, especially in the countries which are least-developed are not covered by early warning systems.
• 60 per cent of people who are residing in Africa lack coverage.

What is the function of early warning systems?

Early warning systems help in monitoring the atmospheric conditions on land and at sea on a real-time basis. This helps in predicting the upcoming weather events anywhere like in rural areas, cities, coastal regions, mountains, and polar or arid locations.

Importance of early warning systems

It is of utmost importance to expand the usage of early warning systems across the world as doing so will give more time that will allow the people to prepare for deadly disasters such as forest fires, heat waves, tropical storms, flooding, etc that can result from the ongoing climate change.