Advancing Early Warnings for Vulnerable Populations

The World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) has several new projects that are targeting research to improve warnings, with an emphasis on vulnerable populations. This talk presents an overview of the interdisciplinary and applications-oriented research aligned with the new Implementation plan of WWRP (2024-2027) and the U.N. mandate of ensuring that effective early warnings are available to all by 2027 (EW4All). Among the new WWRP efforts is an umbrella project known as ADVANCE (Aiding Decision-making in Vulnerable Africa with Nowcasting of ConvEction) that includes multiple endorsed projects that aim to improve nowcasting of convection and associated hazards over the African continent. Among the early results is a successful testbed conducted within the Early Warnings for Southern Africa Project, a WISER funded effort, to provide Meteosat rapidly updating products and tools for southern African nations to improve warnings. We also summarize the goals and outcomes of the new Progressing EW4All Oriented to Partnerships and Local Engagement (PEOPLE) project (2023 - 2027), a new core project of WWRP. This project will explore effective anticipatory risk governance characteristics and typologies, identify enablers of socially inclusive early warning systems, and identify approaches that can sustain early warning systems despite changing environmental and social risk contexts.