Collaborating to Improve Early Warnings for Volcanic Hazards

Hydrometeorological and volcanic hazards both present a clear and present risk, able to impact society and the environment in many ways. Many volcanic hazards directly intersect with hydrometeorology and require a multidisciplinary approach to create effective warnings, including for atmospheric ash dispersal, ashfall, volcanic induced tsunamis, lahars, lava dome collapses, floating pumice, gas, and glacial floods. Impacts from volcanic events span many scales and include flooding, poor air quality, building damage including collapse, aviation and wider transport disruption, fires, and reduced agriculture output, resulting in loss of lives and economic hardship. The larger, rarer eruptions can cause significant climate impacts, and could trigger a catastrophic global crisis were one to occur.

However, most active volcanoes are not adequately monitored and the complex interactions between volcanic and other hazards and their systemic impacts are not fully understood. This is a pressing problem in the UN Early Warnings For All initiative (EW4All) and Sendai contexts.

Discussions on this issue have been gathering steam, following a brief workshop in Rotorua, New Zealand in 2023. Taking advantage of the fact that the 2025 Scientific Assembly of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) is being held in Geneva (June 29-July 5, 2025) a workshop on "Volcanic hazards within the context of EW4All" (July 7-9 2025) is being organised to bring together diverse research areas, service providers, UN bodies, aid agencies and users. The workshop will bring together key stakeholders including UNDRR, WMO, IFRC with a diverse range of researchers and practitioners from the diverse field of volcanic hazards.

In this talk we will introduce the range of volcanic hazards, outline the goals of the workshop, provide context and illustrate the multi-disciplinary challenge.