Ministerial Declaration: The Maputo Declaration on Bridging the Gap between Early Warning and Early Action

The declaration calls on governments to "support and take an active people-centred role to ensure all citizens in SADC are covered by effective Early Warning and Early Action system initiatives. The meeting was organized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), African Union Commission (AUC), Government of Mozambique and other partners.

The declaration committed governments in the region to: 

• Establish, where absent, appropriate standard operating procedures, and enact enabling national policies and legislations on meteorology and disaster risk management;
• Provide additional support to the human, financial and infrastructure capacities of the entities responsible for early warning and early action, particularly the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) and increase collaboration between Member States in the SADC region and on the African continent.
• Encourage and enhance coordination among national, regional and international entities as well as private partners involved in disaster related activities;
• Facilitate timely declaration of state of emergency by the Heads of State and Government in SADC to allow swift humanitarian assistance in response to available scientific evidence.