[J04-4] Geohazard early warning systems IV

[J04-4-01] Geo-hazard early warning systems: A UNESCO perspective

Jair Torres¹, Margherita Fanchiotti¹, ^○John Clinton² (1.UNESCO, Paris, France, 2.Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland)

The Sendai Framework recognises the need to "substantially increase the availability of, and access, to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030". UNESCO strongly believes in the benefits of individual, cluster and multi-hazard early warning systems to better address the specificities of each hazard in an integrated manner. While considerable progress has been made in the field of early warning, these systems continue to be less developed for geo-hazards and significant challenges remain in advancing their development for specific hazards, particularly for sudden-onset hazards such as earthquakes. Furthermore, there is a need for better collaboration among and across communities of scientists, practitioners and policy-makers worldwide. As the only UN agency with a mandate in Earth Sciences, UNESCO is actively engaged in promoting cooperation, knowledge exchange and capacity building on geo-hazard early warning across the globe. By operating at the interface between science, education, culture and communication, UNESCO is best placed to facilitate the establishment of these systems. UNESCO recently launched the International Platform on Earthquake Early Warning Systems, to assess the state of the art in earthquake early warning globally and foster dialogue for capacity building and policy making around these systems. In line with this mandate, UNESCO is organising an International Conference on Earthquake Early Warning Systems in October 2017. UNESCO also promotes landslide early warning through the International Consortium on Landslides and has produced a study on mobile early warning systems for volcanic eruptions. Finally, UNESCO leads the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, which coordinates the establishment of tsunami early warning systems worldwide. Thanks to its key role in promoting early warning systems, UNESCO is part of the International Network on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems.