WMO is boosting its efforts to empower children at the centre of climate action and disaster risk reduction as part of its wider Youth Action plan.
A new Memorandum of Understanding between WMO and COPE Academy Ltd strengthens cooperation to equip children with the knowledge and tools they need to understand, prepare for, and respond to hazards such as floods, cyclones, droughts, heatwaves.
"This partnership is about more than education-it's about protection," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. "By helping children understand risks and respond effectively, we lay the foundation for more resilient communities."
A special edition COPE book on Climate Change-a first-of-its-kind volume that serves as a comprehensive review of all hazards featured in the COPE Disaster Book Series was launched at a dedicated youth event on the sidelines of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.
It is the children's equivalent of WMO's State of the Global Climate report.
"This partnership is about empowering children to protect themselves and their communities," said Martha Keswick, creator of the COPE series. "Through early education, we can create a generation that is better prepared for the risks of tomorrow."
WMO and COPE are committed to empowering children and youth with knowledge and tools to understand and respond to natural hazards, contributing directly to Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Pillar 1 on disaster risk knowledge.
Save The Children
WMO's event also featured representatives of Save the Children and meteorological services from Malawi and Bangladesh and from the African Centre for Meteorological Applications and WMO's youth task team.
It showcased case studies of NMHS partnerships with Save the Children, demonstrating practical methods for youth and child engagement.
"Children should not be passive victims. They have a fundamental aright to access climate information and early warnings and to shape the climate services of the future," said xx of Save the Children. "We can act early to save lives and protect futures," she said.
A Save the Children report showed that children born in 2020 risk facing on average twice as many wildfires, 2.8 times the exposure to crop failure, 2.6 times as many drought events, 2.8 times as many river floods, and 6.8 times more heatwaves across their lifetimes, compared to their grandparents' generation born in 1960.
"WMO is committed to ensuring that early warning and climate services leave no one behind. Youth and children are among the most vulnerable to climate-related hazards," said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.
"Partnerships with organizations like COPE and Save the Children reinforce our shared priority of placing children and youth at the centre of risk-informed climate action," she said.
Through collaborations with partners like Save the Children, we aim to co-produce tailored climate services that go beyond awareness - delivering tools and support that directly address the needs of children. Our goal is to move from data to decisions that protect and empower young people, she said.
By combining WMO's technical expertise with Save the Children's deep community engagement, for example, we can deliver impactful and equitable solutions at the ground level.
COPE Disaster Series
Developed in collaboration with WMO to ensure scientific accuracy, the COPE series presents complex hazard and preparedness concepts in an illustrated, child-friendly format. Since the beginning of this collaboration in 2020, the series has released over a dozen titles, each focused on a specific hazard, and has been translated into all six UN languages. To date, millions of copies have been distributed globally.
Key milestones include:
- Recognition from the late Pope Francis in November 2024.
- Launch of the Cyclones book in Tongan by UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga in August 2024.
- Endorsement by the Pacific Meteorological Council to translate the series into all official Pacific languages.
- Inclusion in the WMO Guide for NMHSs on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems.
- Showcased at major global events including UN Climate Change negotiations.
- Africa: Translations of the Floods and Cyclones books into Malagasy, launched in partnership with Madagascar's Met Service and Ministry of Education on World Meteorological Day 2024, supported by the CREWS initiative.
- Asia: New publications addressing Blizzards (Mongolia), Droughts (China), and Storm Surges (Hong Kong).
- South America: Contributed to the launch of the Spanish-language "train-the-trainer" programme across Latin America to support localized DRR education.
- Europe: Release of the Heatwaves book in collaboration with Meteo France.
Looking Ahead
- The signing of the new MoU sets the stage for the next phase of collaboration. WMO and COPE Academy will:
- Continue developing educational materials across a wide spectrum of hazards.
- Enhance collaboration with UN agencies, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), and academic institutions.
- Expand outreach at global, regional, and national events.
- Promote inclusive communication strategies and invest in capacity development to ensure no child is left behind in DRR education.
- Engage new development partners to support scaling of content, training, and dissemination in vulnerable regions.
