oa Being Timely Warned - Being Prepared to Act: The Basic Principle of Effective Disaster Risk Management

Dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena (floods, extreme temperatures, storms) have caused more than 90% of natural disasters in the world, the number of which has increased fivefold over the past 50 years. Their frequency and intensity of these phenomena are expected to increase as the greenhouse gas emission continues to rise. This problem is more relevant for Ukraine than for Europe as a whole. The research shows that investing in disaster risk reduction measures is highly cost-effective . This resulted in the launch of the United Nations Early Warning for All Initiative (UNEWAI), presented at the World Leaders’ Summit at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, which calls for a creation of a warning system for extreme weather conditions to every inhabitant of the Earth within the next five years. The leading role in its implementation will be played by national hydrometeorological services and national institutions dealing with disaster risk management. The information about main tasks assigned to national hydrometeorological services and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) within the framework of the UNEWAI implementation, and the analysis of readiness of the Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine to solve these tasks are presented in this paper. In particular, it is shown that The Hydrometeorological Service of Ukraine has the necessary regulatory framework and organizational structure, as well as experience in providing forecasts and warnings to users at various levels. At present the main task is the post-war restoration of infrastructure and the technological development of observation and forecasting system. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, together with Ukraine’s international partners, are currently working on solving this problem.