World Meteorological Day: Oman's Early Warning for All initiative

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), is celebrating World Meteorological Day today to commemorate the anniversary of the World Meteorological Organization Convention that was formed in 1950.

This year's celebration, under the theme 'Bridging the Early Warning Gap Together,' aims to reduce the impacts of tropical cyclones, severe storms, and floods.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) recently confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year since records began, as changes in our environment lead to more extreme weather events. The frequency of tropical cyclones, which rapidly intensify after their formation, is also increasing, as are devastating rainfall, storm surges, floods, deadly droughts, and wildfires. In addition, sea levels are rising, making densely populated coastal areas vulnerable to coastal flooding and ocean surges. These events leave lasting impacts on communities long after the events have passed.

As we reach the midpoint of the Early Warning for All initiative, significant progress has been made in saving lives, protecting livelihoods, and strengthening community resilience. As climate risks escalate, the need for the initiative grows more urgent and greater.

Furthermore, as the initiative enters its next phase, partnerships are expanding to accelerate progress. Collaboration with bilateral and multilateral donors, climate funds, and development banks is increasing support for early warning efforts. Regional partners and specialized centers are being leveraged to enhance impact and build lasting capacity. National responsibility and ownership remain at the core of the initiative, with governments, particularly represented by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), leading efforts to strengthen resilience and establish sustainable early warning systems.

Governments are also expected to lead the way, with public-private collaboration supporting the Early Warning for All initiative.

This provides opportunities for collaboration among a wide range of private sector actors, both large and small. While government agencies, particularly national meteorological and hydrological services, must remain the source of reliable warnings, collaboration with the private sector can help stimulate innovation, enhance the dissemination of these warnings, and improve risk awareness.

Businesses can offer valuable expertise and resources, ranging from AI-powered forecasting tools to improved communication systems, whether they are large corporations or local enterprises, the private sector has a vested interest in leveraging weather and climate information to manage their risks, protect their assets, improve operations, and ensure their long-term resilience.

By working together, public and private stakeholders can create more comprehensive and robust early warning systems that protect communities and enhance business resilience.

Professor Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, said, "Over the past 75 years, we have contributed trillions of dollars to the global economy and saved billions more by avoiding economic losses from weather, climate, and water-related risks. We have also saved hundreds of thousands of lives."

e added, "The World Meteorological Organization represents the backbone and central nervous system of global weather forecasting."

As António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said on this occasion, "The United Nations Early Warnings for All initiative aims to protect society everywhere through a warning system by 2027. The world must unite and urgently intensify its efforts and investments to achieve this goal."

It is worth noting that the initiative will focus in the next phase on expanding the scope of early warning systems for all by building on lessons learned, expanding support to include additional countries beyond the 30 countries that the initiative initially focused on, strengthening partnerships with bilateral and multilateral donors, development banks, and climate funds to increase resources and strengthen cooperation, enhancing regional capacities through collaboration with specialized centers and regional partners to ensure lasting impact, and finally, fostering a sense of national ownership through country leadership in implementation and ensuring long-term sustainability.

The initiative aims to bridge the gap together by funding early warning and ensuring that every country has the resources needed to build resilience and protect communities from the increasing impacts of erratic weather and climate change.

Since joining the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1975, the Sultanate of Oman has been an active and committed country, striving for continuous and fruitful cooperation with the organization and its regional centers. This includes exchanging information and developing its own forecasting and monitoring systems, enhancing its meteorological capabilities, and benefiting from international cooperation in this field.

The National Multi-Hazard Early Warning Center was established in 2004 and officially inaugurated in 2015. It is the first national center to provide alerts and warnings for several natural hazards in the region, such as tsunamis resulting from marine earthquakes, cyclones and tropical storms, and flash floods resulting from extreme weather events. Alerts are issued and disseminated through media channels and various social media platforms to reach all segments of society.

The center aims to provide early warning services and alerts regarding weather and climate hazards to the community and stakeholders from the government, military, and private sectors. It also provides alerts and weather bulletins to the aviation sector and all civil, military, and oil airports in the Sultanate of Oman, ensuring and achieving the highest levels of air navigation safety and security in the Sultanate of Oman. It also provides alerts and warnings regarding tsunamis and marine earthquakes. The center performs several tasks, including monitoring weather conditions and natural hazards around the clock, issuing necessary warnings and alerts to residents and relevant authorities, and coordinating with government agencies to take preventive measures.

The center also relies on numerous technologies used to monitor natural hazards, including the latest systems and technical devices, including 80 integrated meteorological stations distributed across the Sultanate of Oman, weather radar systems, marine radars, satellites, numerical models, and advanced meteorological stations to monitor and analyze weather phenomena.

The center sends emergency warnings to citizens and residents via the Oman Meteorology website, text messages, audio and visual media, smartphone applications, and social media platforms. It's worth noting that the center cooperates with government agencies and international organizations in dealing with natural hazards. These include, at the local level, the National Emergency Management Committee, and at the international level, the World Meteorological Organization and the International Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, to ensure effective response to hazards.

The National Multi-Hazard Early Warning Center relies on established operational procedures when issuing all alerts. These procedures manage weather conditions and activate the national emergency management system. Accurate warnings are issued, and this is done in coordination with the relevant authorities to take preventive measures, such as evacuating areas at risk if necessary. The center has also succeeded in reducing damage caused by natural hazards by minimizing human and material losses during tropical cyclones such as Cyclone Shaheen. This is achieved by issuing early warnings and providing continuous data to citizens, residents, and decision-makers.

The Sultanate of Oman joined the World Meteorological Organization: in 1975.

Number of meteorological monitoring stations in the Sultanate of Oman: 80 stations.