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

The Southern Africa Ministerial Meeting on Integrated Early Warning and Early Action System Initiative is aimed at converging on the priority requirements for the region to further accelerate the implementation of Sendai Framework Target G, to substantially increase availability of and access to early warning and risk information to people by 2030. The Conference will also take into consideration the gaps identified in the implementation of the Sendai Framework and recommendations as developed in the recent Third Multi Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWC-III) of 23-24 May 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. The main objective of this Conference is to develop the Southern African region action plan on Early Warning System (EWS) in response to the call of the Secretary General of the United Nations to ensure that every person on earth is protected by EWSs and in this case, the Southern Africa region. In keeping with the continental strategic direction, preparation of the Action Plan will be informed by the existing African strategic framework (i.e. the Integrated African Strategy for Meteorology (Weather and Climate Service)), relevant SADC Regional Strategic frameworks, and the Africa Institutional and Operational Framework for Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Early Action, AMHEWAS).

Specific objectives of the meeting include:

To identify the specific requirements from both the meteorological and disaster risk management communities for effective early warning systems which are informed by existing experiences in the Region, which among others would include enhancing Earth system observations and monitoring; better predictive and early 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 risk management institutions;
To identify the resource needs for the establishment of a fully integrated SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC), leveraging authoritative hydrometeorological information from WMO mandated Centres and supporting Member States in the anticipation of crises;
To promote integrated cross-border cooperation and transboundary collaboration among stakeholders including development partners;
To prepare the sub-regional contribution to the EWS initiative to be launched at COP 27; and
To support the rollout of the AMHEWAS in the SADC region, including member states