Addis Ababa Call to Action on Early Warnings in Africa

Yet, progress remains uneven, and significant gaps persist across the continent, especially in Small Island Development States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and fragile countries. Many countries and communities remain insufficiently protected. Infrastructure and observing networks require further investment; forecasting and warning capacities need strengthening; warnings do not always reach the last mile; institutional mandates and coordination remain fragmented in some contexts; and sustainable financing remains a major constraint.

At the same time, Africa faces increasingly complex risks. Climate change, rapid urbanization, environmental degradation and socioeconomic vulnerability are increasing exposure to extreme weather, climate events and other hazards.  

Call to Action

We, gathered in Addis Ababa, recognize that a world of intensifying climate extremes, interconnected risks and growing exposure demands a fundamental commitment: no person, community or country should face a predictable hazard without the means to anticipate it, receive a warning and act before lives and livelihoods are lost

We therefore call on Member States, the African Union Commission, Regional Economic Communities, development and financing partners, United Nations entities, the private sector, civil society, scientific and academic institutions, the media, local authorities and communities to work together to:

1. Carry forward Early Warnings for All  

Maintain Early Warnings for All as a global political priority, working towards universal, effective and sustainable multi-hazard early warning coverage. The progress achieved in Africa before and since 2022 must be accelerated, sustained, and driven by the priorities and leadership of African countries and communities.

2. Bridging the remaining gaps and reach the last mile, including in fragile countries

Move beyond national coverage to effective protection for people wherever they live and whatever their circumstances. Multi-hazard early warning systems must be people-centred, inclusive and accessible, reaching women and girls, persons with disabilities, children and older persons, Indigenous Peoples, displaced populations and those living in fragile, remote, informal and underserved communities. A warning only saves lives when it reaches people in a form they understand, trust and can act upon.

3. Make multi-hazard early warning systems a core public investment

Recognize multi-hazard early warning systems as essential national infrastructure and a fundamental public service, not a temporary project. Member States must establish and progressively strengthen dedicated domestic budget allocations, incentivise public-private partnerships and scale-up innovative financing mechanisms for multi-hazard early warning systems. Investments must extend beyond technology and infrastructure to risk knowledge, institutions, skilled personnel, operations, maintenance, monitoring and observing networks and the essential role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, communication, preparedness, anticipatory action and community engagement.

Moreover, international climate, development and humanitarian finance must provide adequate, predictable, sustained and accessible financing, wherever needed in Africa particularly for SIDS and LDCs, and countries affected by fragility. Such investments must be better aligned with national priorities.

4. Enable early action based on warnings

Connect warnings with  preparedness, anticipatory action and development. Strengthen the full end-to-end warning chain. Early warning must be embedded across sectors, including agriculture and food security, health, water, education, infrastructure, cities and social protection, and linked to financing mechanisms and institutional arrangements to enable governments and communities to act before disasters strike.

5. Make universal protection a shared and measurable responsibility  

Strengthen national leadership while mobilizing the whole of society. Governments, local authorities, communities, scientific institutions, the United Nations, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, humanitarian actors, regional organizations, financial institutions, civil society, science and technology partners and the private sector all have a role to play, working together to close persistent capacity gaps and scale effective solutions.

National leadership rests on strong governance, with clear institutional mandates, effective collaboration across the early warning value chain, and integration of early warning priorities into national development, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation planning, and on cooperation that reaches across borders, with cross-border data and warning exchange.

Success must be measured objectively, not simply by whether systems exist, but by their effectiveness, notably whether warnings reach people, lead to action and reduce losses.

The Way Forward  

The Addis Ababa Call to Action is a call to accelerate, sustain and scale up collective action for Early Warnings for All across Africa.  

The world has the science, technology, knowledge and experience to prevent predictable hazards from becoming disasters. What is required now is sustained political leadership, investment and action to safeguard development gains, help countries adapt to climate change and build resilience to disasters. 2027 must not be an ending; it must be a milestone.

We call on the international community to carry Early Warnings for All forward. Everyone, everywhere - warned in time and able to act.

We request the African Union Commission, with support from Early Warnings for All Pillar leads, to coordinate the operationalization of the Addis Ababa Call to Action on Early Warnings in Africa across the continent.    

Africa Early Warnings Forum – Summary

The Africa Early Warnings Forum was convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 2 to 4 September 2026, hosted by the Government of Ethiopia on the premises of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and organised by the four pillar leads of the Early Warnings for All initiative: the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in partnership with the African Union Commission.

The Forum brought together more than 400 participants from over 50 African countries, including officials representing the four pillars of early warning systems, in addition to  regional economic communities, regional climate centres, development banks and financing partners, the private sector, academia, civil society and community-based organisations.  

The Forum opened the Early Warnings for All regional-to-global consultative process running through 2026 and 2027, comprising regional events, virtual dialogues and an online stakeholder survey. The process will review progress since 2022, gather priorities and commitments on sustainable early warning systems and their financing, and help define next steps on international cooperation for early warning systems.

Key recommendations

National Ownership and Regional Cooperation, Governance and Institutional Sustainability

• Reform Disaster Risk Management legal frameworks to clarify institutional mandates. Governments should assign responsibility across the full early warning-to-action chain, including who produces warnings, authorizes action, coordinates sectors and supports implementation at local level. Frameworks should also define the roles of regional bodies, technical agencies, National Societies and communities to prevent gaps and duplication.
• Anchor early warning systems in strong local ownership and institutionalisation. Long-term resilience depends on local structures that endure beyond project-based initiatives, including the integration of early warning systems into municipal and local development plans and the establishment of standing local bodies such as village committees.  
• Establish legal foundations for sustainable anticipatory financing. Laws, policies and public finance rules should authorize pre-arranged funding linked to agreed forecasts and triggers, with clear procedures for allocation, release, use and accountability. Financing must reach local actors before impacts occur and continue beyond external projects

Inclusive and Last-Mile Systems

• Institutionalize meaningful and inclusive community participation. Governments should embed community engagement throughout the early warning cycle with deliberate participation of persons with disabilities, women, youth and other at-risk groups. This will help ensure warnings reflect local realities, are trusted and translate into practical action.
• Establish accessible, multi-channel warning protocols that reach everyone. National systems should combine mobile alerts, radio, television, community networks and trusted local leaders, ensuring consistent messaging across platforms. Warning information should be available in appropriate languages and accessible formats and designed around the different communication needs of communities.
• Strengthen decentralized capacity to turn warnings into last-mile action. Invest in and formally integrate local authorities, community volunteers and trusted community networks into warning systems, with the training, resources and clear responsibilities needed to disseminate, interpret and translate warnings into timely, locally appropriate early action. 

Technology, Innovation and AI

• Leverage technology for resilient, interoperable and people-centred EWS. 
  Investments should strengthen the integration of technology, innovation and AI across the early warning value chain. They should support nationally owned systems that connect risk knowledge, forecasting, alert authorization, dissemination and early action, while combining mobile, broadcast, satellite and community-based channels to reach people in diverse connectivity, language and accessibility contexts.
• Accelerate Africa-wide deployment of Cell Broadcast and mobile-enabled public warning. Building on national EW4All roadmaps, countries should move rapidly towards CAP-enabled Cell Broadcast and interoperable multi-channel implementation, supported by clear institutional mandates, enabling policy and regulatory frameworks, national technical capacity, and sustainable financing for both capital and recurring costs.
• Scale responsible AI and digital innovation. Governments and partners must commit to build the foundations for responsible technology and AI, human and institutional capacity, high-quality and representative data, and cybersecurity. Innovation should include integrating proven applications and technologies into operational decision-making.
• Strengthen public-private and regional partnerships for implementation. Governments must engage technology partners from design and testing to operation, with clear roles, and technical and data-sharing arrangements. Implementation should be underpinned by common standards and interoperability, shared technical expertise, and cross-border cooperation and exchanges.

From Early Warning to Early and Anticipatory Action

• Put communities at the centre of early and anticipatory action. Co-design systems with communities so that warnings are timely, trusted, accessible and actionable, and reflect local risks, capacities and decision-making.
• Institutionalise anticipatory action within national disaster risk management systems. Governments should embed anticipatory action in national DRM frameworks, with clear mandates, predefined triggers and government-led, pre-arranged financing that enables action before impacts occur.
• Invest in inclusive, people-centred systems that reach those most at risk. Strengthen the last mile of early warning, particularly in fragile, conflict- and violence-affected contexts, ensuring that at-risk and marginalised populations can receive, understand and act on warnings.
• Build partnerships to take anticipatory action to scale. Governments, humanitarian, development and climate actors should align financing, expertise and delivery systems to move from fragmented projects towards nationally owned and sustainable approaches.  

Sustainable Financing Mechanisms  

• Scale up innovative and diversified financing mechanisms, including disaster risk financing, contingency and anticipatory action funds, insurance and risk-transfer instruments, national and regional disaster funds, development bank financing, blended finance and other investment vehicles that support preparedness before disasters occur.
• Develop robust investment cases for MHEWS by systematically documenting disaster losses, avoided impacts, and the economic returns of early warning investments, enabling finance ministries, development partners and private investors to make informed decisions.
• Expand public-private partnerships (PPPs) through enabling policies, incentives and structured dialogue, engaging telecommunications, insurance, finance, energy, transport and technology sectors as co-investors in resilient and sustainable warning systems.
• Position Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) as an essential public service and a strategic development investment, embedded in national development plans, public financial management (PFM) systems, sector strategies and annual budgets, with dedicated and predictable financing at national and local levels.