Getting ahead of the crisis curve: UNDP's approach to multi-hazard early warning and preparedness

The UNDP Practice Note on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Preparedness pushes for a proactive shift from reactive crisis response to preventive action, emphasizing the understanding of disaster risk as an interplay of hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and capacity. It offers guidance on integrating early warning and preparedness into development agendas and provides practical principles and enablers for effective implementation around early warning and preparedness initiative.

Developed with extensive consultations with UNDP practitioners and partners, this note moves beyond viewing disasters as isolated events. Instead, it highlights disaster risk as a complex interplay of factors, including the nature of potential hazards, the exposure of population and infrastructure, people's vulnerability, and the overall capacity to anticipate and respond to crises. This practice note provides valuable guidance on how early warning and preparedness initiatives can be integrated into global development agendas. It then offers practical guidance to those involved in early warning and preparedness, outlining key principles and critical enablers to strengthen early warning and preparedness initiatives and build proactive capacity to strengthen resilience.