Sliced: Financing Community-Led Early Warning Systems

Listen to this Sliced essay on any of the streaming platforms below.

A couple of weeks ago, I was hiking up Mount Abantos, the peak that towers over my town, San Lorenzo de El Escorial. On most days, you can see Madrid from the ridge, but that morning the view was blurred. A thick haze hung in the air, the product of scorching heat and smoke drifting over from fires near Tres Cantos.

When I reached the top, I stopped at the Casita del Monte Abantos, the fire lookout tower where scouts keep watch for the first signs of flame. The scout on duty told me they’d be stationed there longer than usual this year. Fire season, he explained, doesn’t really have an “end” anymore. That stuck with me. It got me thinking not just about how fragile our landscapes have become, but also about the systems that warn us when danger is near, and how climate finance can play a role in strengthening them.

Early warning systems (EWS) are one of the most effective defenses communities have against climate-related disasters. They save lives and livelihoods by buying time. Whether it’s a smoke signal from a lookout tower in Spain, a river gauge in Bangladesh, or a cyclone siren in the Philippines, these tools provide communities with the critical minutes or hours needed to prepare, evacuate, or adapt. Some groups estimate that every dollar invested in early warning saves up to seven dollars in avoided losses. And yet, these systems are often underfunded, patchy, or disconnected from the very communities they’re supposed to serve.

That’s where community-led early warning systems stand out. Instead of being imposed from the top down, they’re designed and managed by the people who actually face the risks. Local radio networks in rural Kenya broadcast rainfall alerts. In the Philippines, fisherfolk combine satellite forecasts with their own observations of tides and winds. These systems are trusted because they’re rooted in local knowledge and adapted to community needs. They sound alarms while building resilience and agency.

An example comes from Bangladesh’s Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP), a community-driven early warning and response network launched in the 1970s and now supported by climate finance from donors and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Over 76,000 trained volunteers – half of them women – disseminate storm warnings via megaphones, flags, and mobile phones. The program has been credited with saving hundreds of thousands of lives by turning forecasts into action at the local level. Importantly, international finance didn’t replace community leadership…it reinforced it. That’s the model we need more of.

But financing remains the real challenge. Many community-led systems run on short-term donor support or pilot funding. When the money dries up, so do the alerts. Climate finance can change that equation. By channeling resources through mechanisms like GCF, municipal climate bonds, or microfinance institutions, these systems can shift from fragile experiments to stable infrastructure. Small grants can cover essentials such as radios, training, basic equipment – while larger programs can underwrite innovations like mobile alerts, low-cost sensors, or even community-operated drones for fire surveillance. With proper funding, vigilance becomes a guaranteed layer of protection.

Some of the most promising models come from blended finance, where concessional public funds reduce risk for private investors. Imagine a Spanish municipality issuing a green bond to expand rural fire warning networks, partially underwritten by national adaptation funds. Or consider an African cooperative that uses donor-backed insurance to attract private capital for weather-monitoring equipment. In both cases, finance becomes a multiplier, making community resilience bankable and scalable.

Of course, it’s not just about moving money. Governance matters. Who controls the funds? Who decides how alerts are designed and delivered? Without community participation, early warning systems risk becoming technical solutions that sit unused or mistrusted. True resilience comes when financing supports co-creation and when local voices shape the design, management, and communication of the system itself. Otherwise, the alarms may sound, but the people who need them most won’t hear or trust them.

As I sit here on my balcony staring at Mount Abantos, I think back to that hazy afternoon and realize the fire lookout scout wasn’t just scanning for smoke. He was part of a chain of vigilance that communities everywhere rely on, including me! Strengthening that chain is one of the smartest climate investments we can make. With the right financial support, early warning systems can expand beyond towers and sirens to become networks of resilience that are built to last. Clearly, fires, floods, and storms are not going away. But with proper climate finance, our ability to anticipate and withstand them doesn’t have to burn away with the forests.

At Gordian Knot Strategies, we’re committed to making climate finance smarter and faster by fixing the broken screening process. That’s why we built Traro, a platform designed to help investors triage opportunities with clarity, consistency, and confidence.

If you’d like to dive deeper into best practices, download our free guide – Smarter Climate Investing: 7 Strategic Filters Before Your First Impact Dollar.

And if your organization is interested in seeing Traro in action, we’d love to show you how it works. Request a demo here: traro@gordianknotstrategies.com

There’s no cost to access the guide or the demo – our goal is to equip more investors with tools that unlock real climate impact.

At Gordian Knot Strategies, we’re building a global database of impact investors to help mobilize $1 billion annually in climate finance by 2030. If your organization is interested in funding climate or environmental projects, we invite you to fill out our Impact Investor Information Form. Your contact details will remain confidential, and we’ll only connect you with aligned opportunities. There is no fee to participate.

To access the form click here.

Interested in connecting with us on climate finance, impact investment, climate solutions strategy, or carbon credit development and commercialization?

Book a 30-minute conversation with Gordian Knot Strategies here to discuss how we can support your goals.

Disclaimer: Hi there, you are receiving this update from Gordian Knot Strategies based on your previous engagement with us in some capacity. If you wish to unsubscribe, please use the link below, and we promise you that your contact details will be permanently removed from our distribution list. Thanks!

Want to unsubscribe?

Click here.

Want to receive the Sliced weekly dispatch?

Click here.

If you want to see more of our content, check out our monthly newsletter, Virtus.

Click here.