Mogadishu, Somalia – Somalia, a country long portrayed through the lens of crisis, has received rare global recognition—not for how it responds to disasters, but for how it now seeks to prevent them.

At the World Food Forum in Rome, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) presented a prestigious award to Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture on behalf of the Somali Disaster Management Agency (SoDMA) and FAO’s Somalia Water and Land Information Management (SWALIM). The honor acknowledged their pioneering work in Early Warning and Anticipatory Action — a strategy that detects climate threats before they escalate into humanitarian catastrophes.

For decades, Somalia has faced an unforgiving cycle of droughts and floods, each one erasing fragile gains and pushing communities back to survival mode. But this year’s recognition signals a turning point: Somalia is no longer just reacting to climate shocks—it is predicting them, preparing for them, and in some areas, preventing the worst outcomes entirely.

SWALIM’s real-time hydrological data, satellite-based monitoring, and river flow alerts have become lifelines for farmers and pastoralists who depend on nature’s unpredictable rhythms. When riverbanks threaten to burst or rainfall patterns suggest an impending dry spell, warnings now reach districts before disaster strikes. SoDMA then mobilizes local authorities, relief agencies, and communities to take action—moving livestock, protecting crops, reinforcing embankments, or distributing emergency cash before hunger sets in.

FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, who handed over the award, praised Somalia as an emerging model for climate resilience in fragile states. What makes this achievement particularly remarkable is that it stems not from advanced infrastructure, but from coordination, foresight, and the determination to break a pattern of helplessness.

For farmers in riverine villages along the Shabelle and Juba, a flood alert is no longer just information — it is a chance to save their harvest. For herders in the drylands of Galmudug or Puntland, rainfall forecasts guide migration, helping them evade the worst of a looming drought.

Somalia’s anticipatory approach does more than protect livelihoods; it restores dignity. It proves that vulnerable nations are not passive victims of climate change — they can lead the world in adapting to it.

As Somalia pushes forward with its “Early Warning for All” agenda, supported by SoDMA, SWALIM and its international partners, the message from Rome is clear: preparedness is not a luxury, but a necessity. And in that battlefield against climate chaos, Somalia is no longer on the defensive — it is setting the pace.