Carolina Fuentes, GCF’s Secretary to the Board, told the COP26 event “Early Warnings for Small Island Developing States – Bridging the Capacity Gap by 2030” that GCF has become the largest financier of early warning systems in the world and this investment is starting to see results.

She elaborated that USD 1.2 billion of GCF’s approved budget is going to climate information and early warning, but barriers remain with budgets, coordination at local or international level and market access barriers. “We need to transform the data into input that drives action on the ground,” Fuentes said.

The panel also heard how the entire community needs to be involved in the design and execution of early warning systems, according to Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, Director of Climate Change Resilience at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).