CREWS action in Niger, Burkina Faso and the Pacific Region in support of operational hydro-meteorological forecasts and early warning services was highlighted with a special focus on early warnings for agriculture and civil protection.

“In 2012 Niger suffered the worst floods for 40 years, and this year over 100 people have died due to flooding. In the past, information and warnings was not accessible to the people living in exposed neighbourhoods. We have received funding from CREWS in order to improve early warnings so we can inform people of the risks. We are really happy about this support,” said Laouan Magagi, Minister for Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management in Niger.

In the Pacific, CREWS is strengthening hydro-meteorological and early warning services for islands including Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue and Tuvalu, Samoa, Tonga, Palau, Nauru, Marshall Islands and Tokelau.

The CREWS initiative builds on existing activities and enables countries to access additional resources from the Green Climate Fund and other sources. In Mali, a CREWS grant of US$ 2.7 million to strengthen hydro-meteorological services leveraged a US$ 23 million grant from the Green Climate Fund.

The CREWS Steering Committee last week approved a new project, “Weather and Climate Early Warning System for Papua New Guinea.” It aims to improve control and maintenance of the existing drought and flood monitoring network and provide tailored early warnings for the agriculture sector and disaster managers, with an investment totaling US$1,650,000.

The Steering Committee also approved a project for the Caribbean to review the effectiveness of the early warning systems for the recent hurricanes Irma and Maria. It will also address immediate forecasting requirements of affected countries through WMO global and regional centres.

The CREWS is a coalition of Australia, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Canada is aligning resources. It is being implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Bank, and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) with support of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

Date:

16 Nov 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)