In the face of escalating and varied disaster risks in Asia-Pacific, exacerbated by climate change, urgent climate action is required. Developing and disseminating locally led, inclusive, and sustainably governed multi-hazard early warning systems is crucial for minimizing loss and damage, transcending barriers, and ensuring human and ecosystem security. It is especially vital for cross-border water cooperation, contributing to peace and security when well-designed and executed. The existing gaps in disaster risk knowledge, monitoring, preparedness, and communication in Asia-Pacific elevate vulnerability to floods and droughts, exacerbated by the technology-centric approach without local integration. Beyond forecasting, challenges encompass communication and response capacities. This session aims to share best practices and strategies, proposing cross-sectoral frameworks for inclusive and resilient warning systems. It emphasizes science and technology integration, strengthens user functions for data exploration, and underscores the criticality of social, cultural, and political factors. Evaluation of performance and effectiveness and promoting cooperation and collective action are pivotal, necessitating substantial investments in capacity, talent (including facilitators and decision makers), expertise, innovation, and technology deployment.
