How are governments adapting and rebuilding? It’s impossible to prevent hazards, but the drivers of those hazards can be reduced. Government policies can help keep warming within reasonable boundaries. Adaptation requires a whole-of- society approach. Every single sector is affected differently, so you need different strategies for different sectors. Extreme heat has cascading impacts on air quality, agriculture, health, energy, transport and economic productivity. To really reduce the impacts of extreme weather and prevent disas- ters we need better coordination among decision makers – with climate infor- mation injected into the governance framework. Decision-making should be based on that information. We need to move from disaster response to risk-informed adaptation, to manage the risk ahead. If effectively used, information and forecasts save lives and assets. We need to antici pate post-disaster recovery, rather than focus purely on it. We work closely with the United Nations Development Pro- gramme because anticipatory and recovery actions in a changing climate should be part of national adaptation plans as well as national development. What progress have you made? Through the global Early Warnings for All initiative, supported by WMO, more countries have developed national road- maps. The roadmap for Nigeria will be different from Vietnam’s – differ- ent hazards and different societies and cultures. We’ve been enhancing and increasing the number of national road- maps across the world. Early Warnings for All is catalys- ing efforts from donors, governments and partners so funding is better coordinated. It also brings technical cooperation, so those that are ahead can help those behind. And technol- ogy and artificial intelligence can bring in knowledge and tools to accelerate capacity. Our Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems initiative has sup- ported many projects, such as one that connected Malawi and Norway to create an AI-driven forecasting system. According to our latest Global Status of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems report, 119 countries – 60% – already
have multi-hazard early warning systems. That’s 113% more than in the past decade. However only 43% of small island developing states have those systems. In the develop- ing world, there remain huge gaps in observing systems, in terms of both physical and human capacity, and in the ability to turn information into actionable decision-making. The G7 is critical to moving in the right direction. How can the G7 leaders help? G7 members already help as donors. They’re key for data sharing, knowl- edge transfer and forecasting partnerships. All the data shared from satellite and ground observa- tion systems goes through the WMO, but the G7 provides, for example, the global models that are the initial point for regional and national forecasts. But we need to scale up predictable financing for proven mechanisms. If there are more observations, let’s say in Africa, the quality of the forecast improves in that region, but also in Europe. Better observations increase capacity both in the Global South and the Global North. We need financing in areas we know to be successful. Climate finance, development finance and recovery finance are part of the same value chain. We need to invest more in prevention and in creating the right development framework so economic activities are resilient to climate and weather events. The G7 can be the influential voice that highlights the importance of observation and forecasting systems as a global public good that we need to maintain collectively for the ben- efit of the whole of society – people, business, financing, insurance and many other actors. They all depend on reliable, unbiased climate information. Without shared information, no one – not even the most power- ful country – can manage extreme events. This is collaborative work from 0 to 10. If you improve the fore- cast everywhere, you will have more certainty in your value and supply chains, and economic prosperity will improve for everyone.
// CELESTE SAULO Celeste Saulo took office as the first woman to be secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organiza- tion in 2024. She previously served as director of Argentina’s National Meteorological Service since 2014 and was the first vice-president of the WMO. She has been a member of the WMO World Weather Research Programme Scientific Steering Committee since 2011 and is a pro- fessor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Buenos Aires and a research scientist at Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Research.
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