Southern Africa Ministerial Meeting on Integrated Early Warning and Early Action System Initiative

The aim of the Conference is to converge on the priority requirements for the Southern African region to further accelerate the implementation of Sendai Target G, to substantially increase availability of and access to early warnings. The conference will also take into consideration the gaps identified in the implementation of the Sendai Framework and recommendations brought forward during the Third Multi Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWC-III), which took place in Bali, Indonesia on 23-24 May 2022. The main objective of this conference is to develop a framework and an action plan on Early Warning Systems (EWS) in the Southern African region, in response to the call of the Secretary General of the United Nations to ensure that every person on earth is protected by EWSs. Other objectives include:               

• Identify specific requirements from both the meteorological and disaster management communities for effective early warning systems which are informed by existing experiences in the Region. This includes enhancing Earth system observations and monitoring; better predictive and warning capabilities; coordinated communication for anticipatory action, a strategy for reaching the last mile with hydrometeorological information leveraging the use of ICT technology, as well as operational coordination between meteorological and disaster management institutions;             

• Prepare the sub-regional contribution to the EWS initiative to be launched at COP 27;

• Identify resource needs for the establishment of a fully integrated SADC regional Emergency Coordination Center, leveraging authoritative hydrometeorological information from WMO mandated Centres and supporting Member States in the anticipation of crises; and

• Promote integrated cross-border cooperation and collaboration among stakeholders including development partners.