The UN wants the world to have weather disaster early warning systems in place within five years to protect people from the effects of climate change.
A third of the world's people are without early warning coverage, with 60 percent of people in Africa open to weather catastrophes, according to the UN.
The plan will cost over $1 billion, but the UN said it would be well spent.
The United Nations will work to ensure that every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years.
Proper early warning systems allow people to know when floods, heatwaves, or storms are coming, and set out plans for what governments and individuals should do to minimize the impacts.
Each increment of global heating will increase the intensity of extreme weather events.
Early warning systems save lives. Let us make sure they are working for everyone.
The next UN climate conference will be held in Egypt in November and the World Meteorological Organization will present an action plan.
One of the highest rates of return on investments in climate adaptation can be found in the 1.5 billion dollars required to build weather, water, and climate early warning services.
The organization believes that the investment would save many lives and make good economic sense.
Climate change and an increased number of extreme weather events have led to a five-fold increase in the number of weather disasters recorded by the WMO.
Thanks to better warnings, the number of lives lost decreased almost three-fold.
The Paris Agreement on climate change called for capping global warming at two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, and ideally closer to 1.5 C.
As the planet gets hotter, it's important to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 C.
He said keeping 1.5 alive requires a 45 percent reduction in global emissions by 2030.
This decade, carbon emissions are expected to rise by almost 14 percent.
It is feared that if countries stop using Russian oil and gas, they will end up with long-term deals that lock in fossil fuel dependency, putting the 1.5 C target out of reach.
Climate projections are built from sparse information because of the lack of advanced weather monitoring systems in Africa.
While west African countries have the best early warning coverage, central Africa is poorly covered.
The founder of Power Shift Africa told Agence France-Presse that this was leading to blind choices in preparing for more extreme weather events.
He asked how to create early warning systems for extreme weather without data.
Say you want to build a high seawall due to sea level rise. But what if the risk of sea level rise in your region is higher?
Agence France-Presse
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