Strengthening resilience through weather, climate and early warning services

Finland supports development cooperation to strengthen resilience against extreme weather events and other climate-related risks. Finnish expertise has contributed to improved weather, climate and early warning services in over 100 countries.

Reliable weather, climate and early warning services are a core part of resilience, public safety and sustainable development. Finland has so far developed the capacities of the national hydro-meteorological services in over 100 countries. As a result of Finnish-funded projects, improved weather, climate and early warning services can now benefit more than 500 million people around the world. Finnish cooperation helps strengthen the services, expertise and institutions that turn weather information into practical public action.

In East Africa, Finland works with national organizations and regional partners to strengthen weather forecasting and early-warning services across borders. For example, projects implemented in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda are introducing a system designed to strengthen warning services and enabling the dissemination of warnings through radio, television and mobile platforms. The Finnish solution is not only aimed at developing national capacities, but it also enables closer cross-border collaboration and disaster risk management actions.

In Ukraine, the latest capacity building project in the field of developing hydrometeorological services ended in 2025 with remarkable results: The national weather forecast and early-warning production system was completely modernized with public product dissemination service through public mobile phone application. Moreover, the early-warning service dissemination system was not only nationally modernized, but Ukraine also joined the operational Europe-wide warning dissemination platform, Meteoalarm.

As a result of Finnish-funded projects, improved weather, climate and early warning services can now benefit more than 500 million people around the world.

In Central Asia, Finnish hydro-meteorological collaboration has long roots and has improved the weather and climate related early-warning services nationally and regionally. In addition, the projects have contributed to establishing glacier monitoring processes for the impacts of climate change. The glaciers in Central Asia are a key source for fresh water in the region.

In Vietnam, the focus has been on modernising national weather and warning services. Finnish technology has helped the national meteorological service improve the quality and timeliness of its services and prepare earlier for tropical storms and heavy rainfall.

In Nepal, Finland’s contribution has combined service development and capacity building with community preparedness. In flood-prone eastern Nepal, customised warning systems cover over 60,000 people, linking technical support with practical local action.

In the Pacific, Finland has supported a total of 14 small island developing states in strengthening their weather forecasting and early warning systems. Finnish technology, including mobile-based alert systems, has improved the speed and reach of warnings, helping communities prepare for cyclones and other climate-related hazards.

Finland’s added value lies in combining science, state-of-the-art technology, public-private partnerships and civil society engagement with long-term capacity-building and local ownership. This is development policy in action: helping turn weather data into decisions that protect lives, livelihoods and public safety.