Opportunities and challenges for people-centered multi-hazard early warning systems: Perspectives from the Global South

This perspective critically examines the challenges and opportunities of implementing people-centered multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) in the Global South. Despite global initiatives, such as the Early Warnings for All initiative, operational realities lag behind. By exploring the needs of the most vulnerable and how core concepts of multi-hazard thinking (e.g., hazard interrelationships and vulnerability dynamics) integrate into different pillars and cross-cutting components of an MHEWS, the perspective highlights a mismatch between current ambitions and realities on the ground. Drawing on extensive experience from Practical Action, authors identify opportunities to move toward MHEWS through outlining potential entry points in research, policy, and practice. Authors emphasize a need for localized, inclusive strategies that genuinely address the needs of the most vulnerable populations and fully encompass the meaning of multi-hazards, including hazard interrelationships, the dynamics of risk components, and the complexity of multi-hazard impacts.