Inclusive and Equal Access to the Early Warning Services

2027 is the milestone year for the UN’s “Early Warnings for All” (EW4ALL) initiative, making it vital to assess global progress and ask: Is everyone protected by a multi-hazard early warning system? If not, what are the barriers?

This session invites researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss the entire warning process, from information production to communication and action. It especially seeks lessons on how institutional frameworks, social inequalities, and cultural beliefs influence whether warnings are received, understood, and acted upon by all, regardless of gender, age, disability, or socio-economic status.

Key themes include: 1. The debate on whether early warning should be an essential public service, considering its economic and moral aspects 2. The warning process from sensors to impact-based alerts, focusing on moving from hazard-based forecasts to impact-based ones, integrating physical science with socio-economic data, and using AI and low-cost sensors, especially in the Global South. 3. How different countries develop and adopt multi-channel warning dissemination, including modern methods like SMS and apps, and low-tech solutions like community radios and loudspeakers, with attention to inclusive communication for persons with disabilities and remote communities. The role of indigenous knowledge and cultural factors in communication is also explored. 4. How receivers interpret warnings based on mental models, past experiences, and perceptions, and the barriers and facilitators—such as resource and capacity constraints—that influence their response. 5. How stakeholders—government, community leaders, emergency managers, NGOs, and others—can facilitate moving from warning to action and response.