HUE-2: Usage of warning and information services

In 2021 more than half of respondents to the Environment Awareness Study stated that they were using warning and information services from the Federal or Länder governments. However, this proportion was distinctly below the statistics recorded for the two previous surveys. Nevertheless: The proportion of those respondents who were not yet making use of these services but intended to do so in future, was much higher than recorded for the previous surveys.

Warning and informing – an important task at Federal level

Warning and information services are used at Federal level as a key tool to deal with climate change, to inform the public on basic dangers and risks and to warn them about imminent critical events and to recommend precautionary measures. It is in the interest of Federal government that the population make intensive use of these services and that they be disseminated more and more widely.

There are various warning and information systems available at Federal level regarding the risks or stress situations which might become more critical as climate change progresses. The DWD offers online access to their official weather warnings, for example in cases of frost and icy roads or storm, heavy rain and thunderstorm, UV rays and heat (for heat warnings cf. Indicator GE-R-1). These types of information are also available on the DWD-WarnWetter-App. The warnings are issued according to defined criteria in several stages and they refer to defined warning areas. Users can access such warnings, differentiated by levels, down to the municipal level. Furthermore, interested parties or groups at risk can obtain health-related danger- or warning-indices either online or via the fee-based GesundheitsWetter-App (health-weather-app). Apart from information on thermal stresses or – in cases such as meteoropathy (atmosphere-related syndrome) – on other stressful weather scenarios, the app also provides information and warnings on UV-related stress and on pollen-related stress (cf. Indicator GE-R-3). Besides, citizens can subscribe to the Federal government’s warning app NINA offered by the BBK to receive warnings in respect of civic protection, weather and tempest warnings issued by the DWD. It also provides flood information via its Länder-comprehensive Flood Portal for both individually selectable locations and for their own location (cf. Indicator BS-R-1). The warning app NINA is part of Germany’s warnings media mix which also includes warnings broadcast by radio and by cell broadcasting as well as warnings on billboards in towns and cities.

Associated with climate change citizens may also experience increasing health risks caused by UV radiation and ozone. As far as UV radiation is concerned, the BfS in cooperation with the UBA and DWD, generates the latest information – emanating from the nationwide solar UV Monitoring Messnetz (measuring network) – on UV radiation stress as well as forecasts which are published both online and via the DWD warning apps mentioned above (cf. Indicators GE-I-8 and GE-I-9).

Weather conditions comprising intensive solar irradiation stimulate the formation of ground-level ozone which – owing to complex photo-chemical processes – consists mostly of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (cf. Indicator GE-I-9). Germany-wide forecasts regarding exposure to ground-level ozone are provided via the UBA’s internet offerings.

Particularly keen attention is paid – at times when water-levels become extremely high – to the flood warning or information services which have been operated for many years by the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration with remit to publish current water level data for federal waterways. The same can be said of the Hochwasserportal (floodwater portal) operated jointly by the Länder entitled www.hochwasserzentralen.de. This portal issues data on flood warnings on a daily basis for any water bodies that are part of their respective remit. A smaller target audience subscribes to the Sturmflutwarndienst (storm surge warning service) operated by BSH, which communicates water levels as indicated at gauges on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts.

Other extant warning and information services focusing on events which can be associated with climate change are of particular interest to specific professional groups, companies or administrations. These include the Länder’s phytosanitary services which forecast the occurrence of pest organisms and recommend integrated pest control measures. Likewise, information services which forecast low water levels are available.

The representative population survey entitled ‘Environmental awareness in Germany’ conducted regularly²³⁷ has – since 2012 – also contained questions regarding the usage of warning and information services. The survey refers to examples such as the pollen information service, the heat warning services and the flood warning or information services. In the 2012 survey, 41 % of all respondents stated that they make use of warning and information services. In 2014, the outcome of the subsequent survey indicated a sharp increase in usage to 61 %. However, in two subsequent surveys conducted in 2016 and 2021, the proportion of respondents who make use of the warning and information services was in decline, ultimately amounting to just 52 %. By contrast, the proportion of respondents who by that time had not made use of such services but intended to do so in future, had moved in the opposite direction. While in 2012 and 2014, their proportion had still amounted to just 7 %, by 2021 this proportion increased to 22 %. Both developments may have been a side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. In that context, many citizens had made use of additional apps which provided them with warnings and behavioural advice. It is conceivable that other warning apps were used less at that time or they may have been deleted (temporarily).

Basically, the almost population-wide distribution and use of smartphones has been a massive boon to the accessibility of warning services. Warnings and information on all relevant risks and stresses have now become accessible to nearly all interested parties, either online or via apps. In addition, it is possible to receive new relevant alerts on mobile phones via cell broadcasting or via the push-button function of apps.

Information on warning and information services relating to climate change impacts and precautionary measures for the prevention of damage arising from climate change are offered in a bundled form by the German Climate Preparedness Portal available at www.klivoportal.de.

^{237 - infas – Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft GmbH 2022: Tabellenband – Zusatzbefragung im Rahmen der Umweltbewusstseinsstudie 2020. Themenbereich: Klimaanpassung. Bonn, 39 pp. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/2378/dokumente/tabellenband_ubs_zusatzbefragung_sept_2021_klimaanpassung.pdf}

HUE-2: Usage of warning and information services | Umweltbundesamt