The UN Secretary-General António Guterres unveiled an ‘Executive Action Plan for the Early Warnings for All’ initiative during the World Leaders Summit at COP 27. This call for a universal early warning system coverage within the next five years is recognizant of key challenges, including that disaster mortality is eight times higher in countries with limited early warning coverage. The Secretary-General noted that “one out of three persons globally, primarily in Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries… lack access to effective early warning systems”.

Investments in early warning systems reduce fatalities and economic losses that are incurred due to disaster events. Since climate hazards do not follow national boundaries, therefore transformative adaptation measures are those that mirror the transboundary nature of disaster risks. Advancing early warning systems, to meet the needs of today and of future generations exposed to intensifying climate hazards, will rely on cooperation.

This compendium of multi-hazard early warning cooperation will capitalize on recent publications1 to identify county-specific challenges and note good practices cooperation arrangements to strengthen forecasting capabilities, early warning coverage, and systems to act on them. This compendium was launched at the G20 Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group Side Event: Early Warning Early Action, 30 March 2023.