Severe weather, drought, extreme heat, floods, landslides, storms, forest fires, and cyclones are becoming increasingly frequent in Africa and these intense weather events are causing food and water insecurity on the continent.
According to a weather analysis report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Africa has experienced more than 2,000 major disaster events during the last three decades, with most of them being extreme weather and climate‐induced disasters.
Similarly, the Global Climate Risk Index 2020 revealed that Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi were among the countries most impacted by climate extremes in 2019.
Africa risks continued exposure to climate extremes as impacts are projected to worsen and while it is not often possible to prevent climate change events from occurring, employing efficient ways to adapt will help the continent better understand future climate events and create coordinated responses to associated risks. One of such ways is investing in early warning systems.
According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), early warning systems (EWS) are integrated systems of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, disaster risk assessment, communication and preparedness activities systems, and processes that enable individuals, communities, governments, businesses, and others to take timely action to reduce disaster risks in advance of hazardous events.
They are a set of coordinated procedures that facilitate the collation and processing of information on foreseeable hazards in a bid to warn communities of the possible occurrence of a natural phenomenon that could cause disasters.
Implementing these systems has become fundamental for improving the capacity for the continent to adapt to climate change, seeing as it is particularly vulnerable to climate variability and low adaptability.
In fact, this system has already been adopted in several communities on the continent to address a variety of hazards via basic weather and climate observing networks. The problem, however, is that they have severe weaknesses which were highlighted in the 2021 Alliance for Hydromet Development gap report and also in the state-of-climate-services 2020 report.
These weaknesses often contribute to inadequate climate data and result in funding not being allocated to areas where investments are most needed.
Accurate and powerful climate prediction and accurate weather forecasts are important for making the right adaptation policy and investment decisions. In fact, the Hydromet report noted that an estimated 23,000 lives per year could be saved and potential annual benefits of at least US$ 162 billion could be realized when early warning systems, weather forecasts, and climate information are upgraded.
But many countries on the continent do not have the human, institutional, and infrastructural capacities as well as resources needed to provide excellent weather forecasts, early warnings, and climate information.
The current global finance for adaptation for developing countries is insufficient. What this means is that the continent will have to scale up investments in early warning systems, especially in the aspect of enhancement and remodeling.
