Sub-session of Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Early Warning Systems: Role of Actors

Multi-hazard early warning systems can enable communities to act ahead of extreme events to mitigate their impact i.e. take early action. Although early warning and early action aims to reduce the impacts of extreme events, many people, particularly the most vulnerable, are still not covered by holistic, inclusive and effective early warning systems. There are many reasons why the most vulnerable groups are not getting the early warnings they need. Local government capacity to engage directly with communities proactively is often limited by funding, resources, and in some cases, trust. In some contexts, early warning messages are not reaching the most exposed groups, while in others, people get the alerts but do not understand the message, do not trust them, do not know what action they should take, or may be unable to take the measures they know they need to. In addition, marginalised groups including women, children, people living in poverty, persons with disabilities, elderly people, migrants, marginalised language speakers, the LGBTQ+ population and other marginalised people tend to be excluded from decision-making processes on issues such as disaster risk management and response, meaning that early warning systems and early action plans often do not consider these groups in their design and implementation.

In keeping with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 - 2030 call for a shared responsibility between governments and relevant stakeholders, this session will explore the varying and sometimes cross-cutting roles of both state and non-state actors within the EWS value chain, and the merits of utilising and including different actors in separate and interrelated parts of these systems, enabling a connection between top-down and bottom-up approaches.

The objectives of the session will be to:

Understand the role different actors play in the larger early warning ecosystem.
Address the need for an inclusive and whole of society approach.
Explore effective risk communication, focused on the most vulnerable and excluded communities.
Explore effective coordination mechanisms and synergy of efforts to ensure efficiency of early warning systems.