Nations to Focus on Building Early Warning Systems: G20

The meetings of the Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group under the Indian Presidency recently came to a close in Chennai. Through these meetings, the G20 countries came to a consensus that disaster risk reduction is an essential pillar to achieving growth in the future. They decided to focus on 5 areas which are Global Coverage of Early Warning Systems, Disaster and Climate Resilient Infrastructure, Financing Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, a Disaster Response System, and an Ecosystem-based approach to Disaster Risk Reduction.

I find the focus area of building Global Coverage of Early Warning Systems particularly important and am glad that all G20 countries along with international institutions are also focusing on transforming this early warning to early action. This means supporting a variety of methods of disaster risk reduction, especially Anticipatory Action (I had put up an earlier post on the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society which is doing great work in this field, check it out if interested!). This helps build capacity while also encouraging collaborations between different people.

I believe that the focus area of a Financing Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction has also been necessary for a long time. This is because if the national financing strategies are more comprehensive, then the financing for mitigating the impact of these disasters will be more effective.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/disaster-risk-reduction-g20-nations-agree-to-build-on-early-warning-financing-systems/article67124068.ece