Geneva: No country is immune to the catastrophic effects of extreme weather, and ensuring the availability of early-warning systems is crucial to saving lives, emphasized UN chief Ant³nio Guterres on Wednesday. Addressing the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in Geneva, Guterres highlighted the effectiveness of early-warning systems, noting their role in empowering farmers to protect their crops and livestock, enabling safe evacuations for families, and safeguarding entire communities from devastation.

According to Emirates News Agency, Guterres pointed out that disaster-related mortality is significantly reduced, at least six times lower, in nations with robust early-warning systems. Moreover, he stressed that providing just 24 hours of notice before a hazardous event can result in a 30% reduction in damage. Celeste Saulo, the head of WMO, added urgency to the call for widespread adoption of early-warning systems, warning of accelerating climate change impacts that are increasingly destroying lives, livelihoods, and eroding developmental progress.

Weather, water, and climate-related hazards have claimed over two million lives in the last five decades, with developing countries bearing the brunt, accounting for 90% of the fatalities, as reported by WMO. Guterres emphasized the necessity for increased funding to enable countries to act swiftly and effectively, highlighting the financial constraints faced by many developing nations due to limited fiscal space, slow growth, overwhelming debt, and systemic risks.

Guterres also called for addressing the root causes of the climate crisis, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. However, he acknowledged that this target is likely to be exceeded in the coming years. He stated, "One thing is already clear: we will not be able to contain global warming below 1.5 degrees in the next few years. The overshooting is now inevitable."

To support climate adaptation efforts, Guterres urged developed countries to fulfill their pledge of doubling climate adaptation funding to $40 billion this year and stressed the importance of attracting substantial contributions to the Loss and Damage Fund.