Early action: The state of play 2021

This report provides a snapshot of early warning early action commitment, investment and activity over the previous year. It intends to give decision-makers top-line analysis that identifies gaps and opportunities in the delivery of early action, and supports the broader goal of a systemic shift towards acting ahead of disasters, which is critical for effective climate action. Early action initiatives that make people safer from disaster are being implemented across the globe. However, more work needs to be done to establish an effective evidence base from which lessons can be learned about what works, what doesn’t, and what is still needed to take early action to the scale demanded by the increasing impacts of climate change. The report aims to contribute to that evidence base.

The report identifies a number of ways in which approaches to early warning and early action must be improved, in order to succeed in creating the necessary systemic shift:

• Risk-informed early action requires increased collaboration, coherence and understanding between key actors and communities that bridges silos to achieve greater collective impact.
• There is a need for clear policy recommendations to better connect a broad range of available funding sources and financial instruments to risk-informed early action.
• Funding for early warning and early action must be increased, including through earmarking percentages of existing funds and systematically incorporating early warning and early action into budgetary planning processes.
• A robust evidence base must be developed to identify critical gaps across the full value chain of risk-informed early action, as a basis for future support and investment.
• The international community must strengthen coordination and reduce complexity, to make it simpler for countries to access financial and technical assistance where required.
• Locally led Adaptation and people-centred approaches should be utilised in designing relevant national policies, Standard Operating Procedures, early warning systems and financial instruments supportive of local actors.
• Countries must be supported to benefit from exchanges of effective practices and collective learning from different contexts and regions.