South-East European Multi-Hazard Early Warning Advisory System&#160;
Authors: Taalas Petteri , Rabier Florence , Pappenberger Florian , Modigliani Umberto , Wetterhall Fredrik , Dacić Milan , Lappi Sari , Kull Daniel 
Published: June 2021

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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;South-East Europe region is experiencing an increasing number of severe meteorological and hydrological hazardous events, leading to substantial loss of life, livelihoods, and damages to infrastructure and key sectors. WMO together with the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of the region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine) and&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;ECMWF,&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;as well as&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;other key partners&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, are tackling this challenge with development of the &amp;#8216;South-East European Multi-Hazard Early Warning Advisory System (SEE-MHEWS-A)&amp;#8217;.&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The system aims to provide NMHS operational forecasters with effective, efficient, and easy to apply tools for improved and more accurate forecasting of hazardous events and early warnings and to ensure that national authorities have the best possible information to carry out early actions and make the decision that can mitigate potential impacts of hazardous situations.&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The development of the system an&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;d resulting&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;empowerment of NMHS&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to fulfill&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;their core functions&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;is&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;one of the recognized soft measures of adaptation to climate change&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;. This&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;will support the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;NMHSs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to contribute&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;reaching&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;the Sustainable Development Goals,&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;particularly&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;impacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;all&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The demonstration phase of the SEE-MHEWS-A project, which commenced in 2018 concentrates on 1) establishment of regional data exchange mechanism for improved data availability for project purposes such as data assimilation, 2) setting-up numerical weather prediction system including several limited area models covering the whole region, 3) development of hydrological forecasting and nowcasting systems for a pilot river catchment, and 4) developing visualization and distribution mechanism for data and products created as part of the project activities.&amp;#160;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;The progress made in the implementation of the demonstration phase will be presented. In &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;ddition,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;he data policy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;un&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;der this SEE-MHEWS activity&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; will&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;be&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;highlighted&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;as&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;milestone of the project&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;that&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;provid&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;e&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;hundreds of&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;additional&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;observations&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to improve the work of the&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;global, regional&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;national&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;forecasting oper&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;ations&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and enables improved data assimilation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and nowcasting&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; capabilities in the region&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Technical Assistance to the current phase of the SEE-MHEWS-A project is provided with financial support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the European Union, the latter under the EU-WB/GFDRR Western Balkans DRM Program managed by the World Bank and GFDRR. The initial phase of the project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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