PHASE II: APPLYING CLIMATE INFORMATION

Following the Peer Review Meeting in October 2000 of ECE Phase I, ADPC launched ECE Phase II, based on recommendations during the Peer Review to demonstrate the application of climate information. Those involved with ECE Phase I were also encouraged by the highly motivated network of climate professionals and the enthusiasm of its national partners to continue forward in the field. Please see the Program Profile, for more details on Phase II. The second phase of ECE will encompass two main activities:

• Capacity building and training
• Demonstration projects

Capacity Building and Training for ECE involves enhancing skills and strengthening institutions at the national and local levels. ECE Phase II strives to accomplish this by holding training workshops for a wide range of participants throughout Southeast Asia.

At the August 2001 meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Meteorology and Geophysics, Committee members discuss various initiatives to strengthen ASEAN capacity on seasonal climate prediction. The meeting also recognized the importance of promoting the climate information applications. As a follow-on to these dicussions, ADPC is co-organizing the Asian Climate Training (ACT) workshop with the Thai Meteorological Department (TMD). This will be held in Bangkok from 7-18 May 2002. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Global Programs is providing financial support for the workshop and all participants.

The goal of the ACT is to enhance knowledge and change attitudes of climate information users and producers to effectively utilize climate information for society. This will be accomplished by providing insights from ongoing studies of climate variability and its impacts, building a community of scientists and decision makers in the Asian region, and assessing the needs for implementing climate information applications at the national and local levels.

Demonstration Projects are designed to illustrate, at the local level, how climate information can be used to enhance decision making and reduce the risks of disasters from extreme climate events. In its first phase, ECE was able to generate a general map of vulnerability in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam through the documentation and analysis of past extreme climate events. At a large geographic scale, the program has identified opportunities for the application of long-range climate forecasts. Under the proposed demonstration projects, each country will undertake acitivities to test the findings from ECE Phase I.

Guidelines for ECE Demonstration Projects

Indonesia — Phillippines — Vietnam