Malawi is mobilising government commitment and community engagement to improve forecasts and early warnings and build resilience in a country regularly battered by extreme weather and climate shocks.
Recently, four days of high-level discussions and field visits under the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (Crews) initiative highlighted both significant progress and persistent challenges.
The talks brought to light the need for sustainable financing, stronger coordination and filling the gaps in basic observing systems.
World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) secretary-general Celeste Saulo said the disaster-prone country can tell the story for least developed countries, small islands developing States and developing countries that “we can indeed put in place early warning systems” that work.
“WMO’s work matters when it changes people’s lives. I do believe that Malawi can be a lighthouse, where we have a strong commitment from the political leadership and government for early warning systems and the strong capacity of the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services [DCCMS] to deliver,” she said.
Climate crisis
Kamal Kishore, special representative of the United Na-tions Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, joined Crews steering committee members and partner organisations for the four-day mission, which took the delegation from government headquarters to rolling plateaus and remote villages.
“The climate crisis is already leading to more devastating disasters. This makes investing in disaster risk re-duction more urgent than ever and multi-hazard early warning systems are among the most powerful tools for protecting lives and livelihoods from disasters,” she said.
The UN envoy said the Early Warnings for All initiative and Crews interventions open “a unique op-portunity to extend this protection to every person in Malawi and around the world”.
Minister of Natural Resources Patricia Wiskes launched the Early Warnings for All initiative roadmap for Malawi to strenghten national coordination to protecting lives and livelihoods through effective early warning services.
Malawi is one of a growing number of African countries with targeted roadmaps.
“We can’t talk about climate resilience without talking about national meteorological agencies,” said Wiskes, underlining the central role of national services in protecting lives and livelihoods.
Minister of Finance Joseph Mwanamvekha emphasised the economic imperative of early warning services in a country highly exposed to climate-related hazards.
He highlighted the importance of sustained partner engagement to ensure long-term support and strong national ownership of weather and climate services.
The UN resident coordinator and her team reaffirmed their commitment to supporting the implementation of Early Warnings For All in Malawi through better coordi-nation and coherence.
Partners emphasised the importance of translating in-vestments in data and forecasting into community-level early action, while outlining a clear way forward focused on operationalising end-to-end early warning systems, closing capacity gaps and mobilising sustainable financing to ensure that no one is left behind.
DCCMS launched the new $3.84 million initiative to strengthen Malawi’s capacity to generate, process and share high-quality weather and climate data and close gaps in the basic observing network.
The department rolled out the initiative in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Systematic Observations Financing Facility to enhance evidence-based decision-making and improve access to tailored early warnings that protect lives, livelihoods and property across Malawi.
Field work
To gain first-hand insight into the benefits of the Crews Malawi project on the ground, the steering committee and partners met local communities in Zomba in an eye-opening and inspiring visit.
Community members in the flood-prone locality shared testimonies of how better forecasts and early warnings, better grassroots preparedness and strengthened local coordination mechanisms are helping to safeguard lives and livelihoods.
“We had sobering discussions and concrete examples of life-saving measures, even emotional at times,” said Crews Steering Committee chairperson Francis Pigeon. “Indigenous knowledge, inclusivity and gender equity are front and centre of the many projects implemented throughout these communities.”
He commended the Government of Malawi for its strong leadership and clear commitment to making early warning and early action a national priority, as well as the launch of DCCMS strategic plan under the directorship of Lucy Mtilatila.
Vision for science
WMO is a UN specialised agency fo-cused on weather, climate and water resources, promoting international cooperation in these fields.
It supports the Crews Initiative with contributions from the governments of Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Nether-lands, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
“WMO’s vision is for science-driven weather and water and climate services need to serve all people with timely early warning systems. Crews turns this vision in-to reality in the most vulnerable countries,” said Celeste Saulo.—Wmo.org
