March 23 marks the 65th World Meteorological Day, with the theme of "Closing the Early Warning Gap Together."

Planet Earth faces unprecedented climate challenges. 2024 was the hottest year on record. Global warming has triggered frequent and intensified extreme weather events, which emphasizes the importance of early warning systems in disaster prevention and mitigation.

In March 2022, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative.

From global consensus to national action, China is implementing its National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy 2035 to build a climate-resilient society.

"Ensuring universal access to meteorological early warning systems is not only a shared vision of the international community but also an important mission of China's meteorological departments. China Meteorological Administration (CMA) will continuously enhance the meteorological science and technology, improve public services, deliver more robust scientific, institutional and governance support to achieve the goals of EW4ALL initiative, and contribute more wisdom and plans to building a community with a shared future for mankind," said Chen Zhenlin, head of the CMA.

CMA has made great efforts to step up meteorological disaster monitoring, forecasting, and warning as well as prevention and response capabilities.

Today, the new-generation National Emergency Early Warning Information Release System disseminates 82 types of warning information to designated emergency responders within one minute, achieving 99.1 percent public coverage.

"Enhancing meteorological science and technology capabilities underpins more timely, accurate and widespread early warning dissemination," said Chen Zhenlin.

China has effective early warning mechanisms such as Progressive Service and High-Impact Alert and Response systems. When high-impact hazards occur, each warning triggers immediate action, followed by confirmation to ensure closed-loop disaster prevention.

Recently, Ko Barrett, deputy secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said, "I love the focus on ensuring that the people and their safety are actually of central importance."

China stands ready to work with fellow developing countries through professional training, visiting scholar programs, and research scholarships to enhance its shared capacity for climate resilience.

China's Fengyun meteorological satellite data services now cover 133 countries and regions, achieving an 80 percent global service satisfaction rate.

Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the WMO, highlighted the critical role of China's upcoming satellite launch in advancing global early warning capabilities.

In 2024, CMA and Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration (VNMHA) shared rainfall observation data from meteorological stations in China-Vietnam bordering areas, supporting decision-making for local governments on both sides, in particular county- and prefecture-level governmental agencies in disaster mitigation and response work.

The joint development work by CMA and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has resulted in an Early Warning Supporting System tailored for Pakistan. The system features a cloud-based open platform and toolbox series covering local information access, numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, artificial intelligence (AI) models, severe weather identification algorithms, early warning information dissemination, etc., enabling swift and effective tracking of meteorological disasters.

Given the theme of this year's World Meteorological Day, I think China has already made progress in closing the early warning gap, said Somses Sieglinde, a meteorologist from Namibia.

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