In recent years, climate change, extreme weather, population growth and urbanization have led to an increasing number of people being threatened by compound disaster risks, and it has become a global challenge to mitigate disaster risks and reduce the loss of lives and property, or environmental damage. The need for early warning systems as preventative measure is more crucial than ever. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 explicitly calls for the development of multi-hazard early warning systems to improve their availability; Goal 3 "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" and Goal 13 "Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts" of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encourage countries to develop early warning systems; Article 7 "Enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change" and Article 8 "Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts" of the Paris Agreement also place a high priority on strengthening early warning systems.
With growing awareness and a sense of urgency, the UN Secretary-General has called for new actions in 2022, launching the Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) Initiative, to ensure every person on Earth is protected by (improved) early warning systems within five years, by the end of 2027.
Early warning systems have proven to be a cost-effective and reliable solution to protect lives and livelihoods from natural hazards such as floods, heat waves, storms and tsunamis. The Global Commission on Adaptation states that giving just 24 hours’ notice of an impending hazardous event can reduce impact and damage by 30 percent. The Global Status Of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems 2023 also reveals that countries with substantial to comprehensive Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) coverage have nearly one-sixth lower disaster-related mortality ratio compared to that in the countries with limited to moderate coverage (0.71 mortality per 100,000 population, compared to 4.05). However, although the number of countries reporting the MHEWS existence has doubled since 2015 and increased to 101 countries as of March 2023, only half of the countries worldwide reported having adequate MHEWS, and even existing one struggle with adequate capacities, coverage, communications and resources. Simultaneously, significant gaps still remain between countries, meaning that coverage of MHEWS still remains especially low (less than 50%) in LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS. These data remind that the coverage and efficiency of early warning systems need to be continuously improved to achieve the ambitious goal of “Early Warnings for All”.
Advances in science and technology have brought new development opportunities to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of early warning. As an all-weather, all-day, full-coverage technology for Earth observation, space-based technologies play an irreplaceable role in disaster risk prevention and management, especially in disaster risk identification, assessment, monitoring, and for early warning. Additionally, the quality of satellite sensors, resolution, availability, and access to and use of satellite imagery and Earth observation services has significantly improved in recent years, with more and more space agencies (and even some private sector entities) embracing open data policies that facilitate access to archived and up-to-date imagery. This is helpful to bring together the broader UN system, governments, civil society and development partners across the public and private sectors to address gaps and deliver people-centered, end-to-end multi-hazard early warning systems that leave no one behind.
In the given context, this International Conference will address issues raised above and continue identifying challenges, highlight solutions, and encourage partnerships for using space technologies in early warning systems to enhance collaboration and accelerate the realization of the EW4ALL.
The conference is organised by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) of the People’s Republic of China and implemented through the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) and the National Disaster Reduction Centre of China (NDRCC). It follows nine earlier annual conferences held since 2011, after a gap of four years because of the Covid pandemic. Previous conferences covered the themes of “Best practices for risk reduction and rapid response mapping” in 2011, “Risk assessment in the context of global climate change” in 2012, “Disaster risk identification, assessment and monitoring” in 2013, “Multi-hazard disaster risk assessment” in 2014, “A consolidating role in the implementation of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030” in 2015, “Understanding disaster risks” in 2016, “Building resilience through integrated application” in 2017, “Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective emergency response” in 2018 and “A Policy Perspective” in 2019. These conferences offered a forum for disaster management communities and experts to strengthen their capabilities in using space-based information to identify, assess, monitor and respond to disaster risks and integrate space technology into long-term disaster risk management efforts, and connects them for direct interaction with the satellite technology providers.
The conference is organised in collaboration with the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Asia Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO) and the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Pacific (RCSSTEAP).
