Today we are meeting John Harding, Head of Secretariat for the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative. CREWS – through its implementing partners the World Bank, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the World Meteorological Organization – works with countries to advance early warning systems in some of the most climate vulnerable contexts around the world. CREWS is also collaborating with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through its Simplified Approval Process to scale up and fast track access to resources for early warning systems.
Read more about the work of CREWS here.
1. Tell us about how the CREWS Initiative came about, and why it is so important.
Launched at COP 21 in December 2015, the CREWS Initiative is a specialised financing mechanism responding to the urgent need to address climate-related risks and their impacts on vulnerable communities in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island developing States (SIDS), in a gender-responsive and people-centered manner. When it was established, the CREWS Initiative was the only international mechanism specifically dedicated to working on early warning systems supporting LDCs and SIDS.
The primary goal of the CREWS Initiative is to strengthen the capacity of countries to provide effective early warning systems and climate services to their communities. CREWS works directly with countries to increase the availability of, and access to, early warning systems. This involves a number of interconnected efforts, including: improving risk knowledge through identification of risks, modernising hydrometeorological infrastructure such as observing networks, improving warning dissemination and communication, strengthening capacities of national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs), development of linkages with sectors and communities by tailoring services and products, and strengthening the abilities to prepare for and respond to warnings. By providing timely and accurate information, these systems enable communities to prepare and respond effectively, reducing the loss of life and minimising the economic and social impacts of disasters. Early warning systems also contribute to building resilience by facilitating informed decision-making, enabling better planning and resource allocation, and promoting risk reduction measures.
The CREWS Initiative recognises the importance of international cooperation and knowledge sharing. It fosters collaboration between countries, organisations, and experts, facilitating the exchange of expertise, best practices, and technologies.
2. What other important early warning initiatives are you working on?
To date, CREWS has invested more than US$ 100 million implementing 10 country and 8 regional projects. But the scale of the challenge is large – a further US$ 62 million is needed to fill the immediate resource needs for an additional 20 regional, national and global projects in the pipeline (https://www.crews-initiative.org/en/projects).
Four new projects in Africa (Malawi, Central Africa, East Africa and the Greater Horn of Africa) also mean that CREWS now works in more than 20 fragile or conflict-affected countries. The expertise and flexibility of CREWS’ implementing partners, to work with fragile and conflict-affected countries, are required to achieve the principle of reaching all people with early warning services. CREWS operations are tailored to individual contexts and flexible to adapt in the face of sudden security risks or volatility.
The CREWS East Africa project is the latest CREWS project launched in early 2023. It will assist six countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda – to scale up early warning in some parts of the region and lay the ground for the others.
CREWS is also supporting 3 short-term, quick impact interventions in Benin, Mozambique and Tonga. The support ranges from conducting analyses, assessments or advisory services to monitor or deliver early warning complementing the multi-year CREWS projects.
3. How has being a REAP Partner helped you scale up your work?
CREWS joined REAP in early 2022, aiming to enhance common efforts on making early warning systems more effective – including by strengthening early action and financing. REAP and CREWS share and exchange expertise and work together to deliver greater impact.
REAP has provided CREWS with a large network of operational partners, which in turn facilitates the scaling up of CREWS operations. For instance, in Jamaica, CREWS supported Resurgence (a REAP Partner) and the Jamaican Met Service to fill a critical alerting gap in easy-to-access-and-understand warnings, so that people can act before the impacts of a disaster. The project included the development of a new context-sensitive weather app which connects to communication channels used and trusted by vulnerable communities, such as radio, community social media, and, where appropriate, word-of-mouth networks. In order to ensure take-up of the app – especially among women-headed households – 22 men and women from public safety organisations, the Red Cross, media, farmers, fishermen, etc., collaborated on the design, messaging and dissemination. The inclusion of fishermen in this process even led to new marine weather forecast systems for small fishing and leisure boats.
CREWS also benefitted from the network and expertise of REAP partners in the development of its Guidance Document on People-Centered Risk-Informed Early Warning Systems.
4. What do you see as the next 1-2 priorities to tackle so that we can take early warning and early action to scale?
Just like REAP, CREWS recognises that effective early warning systems (and early action) need to be a priority issue across sectors, including development and climate. For that reason, CREWS will continue to align its programming with financing by development partners and/or climate funds to move closer towards mainstreaming multi-sectoral approaches. CREWS will also ensure that it serves the needs of the most vulnerable, strengthening the modalities of its multi-year country and regional projects to ensure flexibility, agility and sustainability, and continue to deliver early warning system programming in complex contexts such as fragile and conflict affected countries.
Moreover, CREWS will find opportunities to collaborate concretely on one of the most pressing issues affecting those at risk: access to funding. CREWS will work to scale up and fast-track access to financial support for activities across the full early warning and early action value chain. A step in this direction has already been taken, in the form of a partnership with the Green Climate Fund through its Simplified Approval Process.