Early Warning Systems

The Last-Mile Challenge: Implementation Roadmap for Malawi (2026 -2030)

This Implementation Roadmap responds to the 2027 mandate of the United Nations Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative by designing a localized, multi-hazard early warning strategy for Malawi — a Least Developed Country (LDC) in sub-Saharan Africa that epitomizes the structural inequalities underpinning global disaster vulnerability. Drawing on the UNDRR January 2026 Update, the World […]

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Understanding the global landscape of heat early warning systems

This report provides a global overview Heat Early Warning Systems, examining where they exist, how they are designed and operated, and their challenges and opportunities. It assesses the state of systems through the four core pillars of early warning systems and enabling components, drawing on peer-reviewed and non-academic evidence. The Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance is

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Public warning and evacuation experiences during recent GLOF events (2019 and 2023) and recommendations for future preparedness: Insights from Lunana, Bhutan

This peer-reviewed study offers the first comprehensive documentation of how a remote Himalayan community experienced warning dissemination and evacuation during recent glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Focusing on Lunana in Bhutan — one of the world’s most at-risk basins, surrounded by dangerous glacial lakes and a nine-day walk from the nearest road — the authors

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Whitepaper – 18 myths about public warning systems — debunked.

This whitepaper, produced by public warning technology provider Intersec, tackles 18 common misconceptions that slow or distort the deployment of public warning systems (PWS) — particularly in the Global South, where implementation often stalls not for lack of funding or political will but because of persistent myths about cost, complexity, intrusiveness, and deployment time. Framed

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Knowing what the weather will do: A guide for practitioners on impact-based early warning

This guide introduces a novel framework and step-by-step methodology for developing impact-based early warning (IbEW) systems that move beyond forecasting “what the weather will be” to anticipating “what the weather will do” — the actual impacts of hazards on people, livelihoods, and assets. Aimed at governmental and non-governmental organizations engaged in early warning, disaster risk

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Urban Heat Governance: Assessing Institutional Capacity to Manage Extreme Heat in Cities of the Global South

Extreme heat is the deadliest climate hazard — yet it remains the least governed. This policy brief, produced by the IFRC Climate Centre in partnership with University College London, presents findings from an analysis of heat-related urban governance across 83 coastal cities in the Global South. The central finding is stark: despite rapidly escalating heat

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Heat Threshold Reports: Honduras and Tanzania

Effective heat early warning systems depend on knowing what “extreme” actually means in a given place, and that definition varies significantly by local climate, population acclimatization, and urban context. This page brings together two technical reports produced by the IFRC Climate Centre that develop locally calibrated heat thresholds for cities in Honduras and Tanzania, providing

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Community Heat Risk Perception Studies: Honduras, Indonesia, and Tanzania

This collection brings together four community-level research studies examining how urban populations perceive, experience, and respond to extreme heat. Published in late 2025, the studies were conducted as part of the Coastal City Resilience and Extreme Heat Action Project (CoCHAP) — a joint initiative supported by National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the American

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Collaborative community-based early warning systems – Solutions Brief

This solution brief forms part of the Zurich Climate Resilience Alliance’s solutions series. The solution series aims to improve outreach and impact of such resilient practices at a global level. This brief highlights how the Philippine Red Cross has partnered with communities, local leaders, members of Barangay Flood Resilience Committees, and key government stakeholders to

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