Updated

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, that millions of people never receive early warnings, and urged protecting everyone by the end of 2027. Early warnings have saved lives from Japan to Rwanda, where a tea farmer in Karongi district was warned of heavy rain 48 hours ahead and had time to protect her crops. A new report by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the World Meteorological Organization found that 136 countries, 70 per cent of the total, now have multi-hazard systems, yet around one in three countries still has none, with the widest gaps in least developed countries, small island developing States and conflict-affected countries. The report found that countries with substantial systems recorded disaster-related mortality 6.1 times lower than those with limited ones. UN News noted that a powerful El Niño raises the stakes, and Guterres said some $2 billion has been mobilised since 2022 but finance must cover the whole warning chain.