Mozambique makes great strides towards Early Warnings for All

The initiative, also known as EW4All, was first announced by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in March 2022, with the goal of achieving universal coverage within a five-year deadline.

Disaster and destruction

Mr. Nyusi – an African Union Champion on Disaster Risk Management – said his country “lives under permanent threat of disasters, especially those caused by extreme natural phenomena, with floods, cyclones and droughts being the most frequent.”

He added that “when these adverse events occur, they leave a trail of destruction characterized by human loss and material and environmental damage or serious implications for society and our economy.”

Mozambique is situated on the southeast African coast and the country is regularly battered by tropical cyclones that sweep across the Indian Ocean, as well as related coastal and inland flooding, WMO said.

More than 60 per cent of the population lives in low-lying coastal areas, heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture, increasing the risk to both infrastructure and livelihoods. 

Making strides

Mr. Nyusi said the impacts of climate change, environmental degradation due to human activities, and poor land management, have intensified these challenges. He insisted that more can be done to reduce both loss of life and greater harm.

The President applauded the work of WMO, the UN’s weather agency, and Mozambique’s National Meteorological and Hydrological Service. He also announced a significant new investment to improve basic weather and climate observations which underpin early warnings.

“Mozambique has made great strides towards Early Warnings for All and has a proven track record in saving lives,” said WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo.

She recalled that Tropical Cyclone Idai in March 2019 led to 603 deaths and cost $3 billion, whereas record-breaking Tropical Cyclone Freddy in early 2023 claimed 183 lives and $176 million in economic losses.

‘Early warnings work’

Ms. Saulo called for building a future where Mozambique is not only prepared for hazardous events but resilient against them.

“Let us come together with one vision and one goal: to protect people, livelihoods and the future,” she said. “Early warnings work. They must work for everyone,” she added.

Meanwhile, WMO noted that Mozambique has already taken action towards climate adaptation.

Roadmap rollout

The Early Warnings for All initiative was officially launched there in November 2023 and is being rolled out with the support of the National Institute for Disaster Management and the National Institute of Meteorology, in close collaboration with the National Communication Institute, the Mozambican Red Cross and the UN Resident Coordinator’s office.

WMO said “the EW4All Roadmap provides an overarching framework for a coherent and consolidated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System programme which could be embedded into Mozambique’s five-year development plan.”

The roadmap aims “to embrace the whole of meteorological value chain, from collecting weather and climate observations data, over to better forecasts, improved early warning systems up to better informed climate adaptation plans.”

Challenges and compliance

The UN agency pointed out, however, that many challenges exist. For instance, Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology has relied on governmental budgets and international development projects to fund its observation network. Limited resources have hindered network accessibility and maintenance. 

Mozambique also currently lacks surface weather stations that are compliant with the mandatory international WMO standard, the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON).  

The UN agency said the situation should change, thanks to a $7.8 million investment from  the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF) to install six new land surface stations, upgrade 15 existing stations, and establish four upper-air stations.

Timely investment, high returns

The SOFF is a UN Fund that provides financial and technical assistance to support the collection of climate and weather data, and the investment seeks to align Mozambique with GBON standards.

Ms. Saulo called it “a timely and much needed investment, which will yield high returns.”  She noted that Mozambique lost 75 per cent of its monitoring stations during flooding in 2000 and has been striving to recover since then.

She added that the investment will contribute to the establishment of the Government’s ambitious ‘One District, One Weather Station’ programme.

“New or updated surface and upper-air stations and technical assistance will improve national meteorological and hydrological services, thereby enhancing forecasting and early warning systems that save lives and livelihoods,” she said.

Bolstering resilience and preparedness

Mozambique is among the first countries that have moved into the SOFF Investment phase.

The South African Weather Service, serving as the SOFF peer advisor, will provide guidance, while the UN World Food Programme (WFP), as implementing entity, will leverage its field presence and ongoing projects to complement investments in early warnings and forecast-based finance. 

The collaboration aims to target easy fixes of stations previously funded by other initiatives which faced lack of maintenance due to resource constraints.

As a result, the National Institute of Meteorology will be better equipped to support Government initiatives to boost national resilience and disaster preparedness.

CREWS initiative

Meanwhile, the Climate Risk Early Warning Systems initiative (CREWS) has also played a key role in building resilience in Mozambique.

The financial mechanism funds projects in the world’s most vulnerable countries to establish early warning services.

Following Cyclone Idai in 2019, a joint project by WMO and the World provided international expertise for the Government-led Disaster Risk Management Programme, particularly in developing and implementing integrated early warning systems. 

WMO said an upcoming CREWS Steering Committee meeting will discuss a follow-up project, valued at $5.5 million, to build on this foundation and expand efforts in Mozambique and the broader southern African region.