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& EVENTS ECE News - Archives ISDR Working Group 1 on Climate and
Disasters (lead by WMO) 29th Session of the WMO/ESCAP Panel on
Tropical Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea ed disaster prevention and preparedness (DPP), training, research, and coordination with other activities in the WMO Tropical Cyclone Programme. ADPC attended the meeting as an observer and presented its programs on hydro-meteorological issues, including ECE. Other programs were Climate Forecasting Appliations in Bangladesh (CFAB), Flood Information Networking, and Droughts in Southwest Asia. For more information, please see WMO's Tropical Cyclone Programme. Climate Affairs Program: First Training
Workshop for the South and Southeast Asian Region Workshop on the Development of Seasonal
Forecasting for the Indochina Region The aim of the workshop was to plan the development of practical seasonal forecasting systems for the nations of the Indochina region, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, involving enhanced access to regional and international predictions and the implementation of a new statistical forecast scheme, supported by a regional forum for exchange of experience.
Asian Climate Training (ACT) Curriculum
Development Workshop ADPC participates in the
Asia-Pacific Conference on Early Warning, Prevention, Preparedness and Management of
Disasters in Food and Agriculture The Extreme Climate Events Program of ADPC will participate in the Asia-Pacific Conference on Early Warning, Prevention, Preparedness and Management of Disasters in Food and Agriculture organized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 12 to 15 June 2001. The purpose of the Conference is to promote the protection of farming systems, natural resources and livelihoods in disaster-prone areas. ADPC will present a paper on the issues relating to the evolution of long-lead climate forecast over a period of time in the Asia-Pacific monsoon region, and recent advances in ENSO prediction and its potential value for agriculture and food security planning and management. The paper, while drawing experiences from the application of long lead climate forecast in recent years, also highlights emerging issues for future action.
Regional Climate Outlook Forum
Conference The Global Review Meeting of Regional Climate Outlook Forums organized jointly by WMO, World Bank, NOAA, International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI) and South African Weather Bureau was held last 16-20 October 2000 in Pretoria, South Africa. The review focused on the past six years of climate forecasting applications work (particularly the regional climate outlook forums) globally. One of the outputs of the meeting would be a summary report which will have recommendations for forecasting applications work for the coming years. This will include two-page recommendations (a broad plan) for Southeast Asia in which ADPC will play a major role as a regional resource for climate forecasting applications work. ADPC presentation on the status of climate forecasting applications work in Southeast Asia was well received. International
Peer-review Meeting, Extreme Climate Events Program From 5-6 October 2000, the ECE Program was reviewed by over 30 experts representing the study teams in the three target countries of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, ADPC, the ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center (ASMC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Southeast Asia START Regional Center (SEA-START), International Research Institute for Climate Prediction (IRI), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), University of Hawaii, NOAA, OFDA, ADB, USAID, and the World Bank. The meeting reviewed the work done under the ECE Program over the last two years, discussed strategies for dealing with future extreme climate events and charted directions for the future. The meeting commended the work done under the program and the role played by the program in raising awareness on extreme climate events, and in promoting inter-sectoral dialogue for mitigating their future impacts. The meeting also recognized that through this program, a first-ever comprehensive information base has been built on ENSO events and a general map of vulnerability to these events in the target countries has been drawn. This will be extremely helpful in mitigating the impacts of future extreme climate events. The meeting made a number of recommendations regarding the follow-up of the ECE program. The two main recommendations were: first, to start demonstration projects in the target countries and second, to expand the follow-up program to two other countries of the region namely, Bangladesh and Thailand. For more details about the meeting, please click here. First International Forum on Climate
Prediction, Agriculture and Development The First International Forum on Climate Prediction, Agriculture and Development was held on 26-28 April 2000 at the International Research Institute for Climate Research (IRI) in Palisades, New York, USA, with around 60 participants from around the world. The Forum's goal was to strengthen research capacity and to build interdisciplinary and international cooperation in order to create more effective applications of seasonal-to-interannual climate predictions for agriculture. The ForumØs comprehensive scientific program presented advances in climate science and forecasting of impacts of large-scale climate variability phenomena on food production, distribution and consumption systems around the world, and explored implications of seasonal climate fluctuations and applications of seasonal climate prediction within a broad range of agricultural concerns, including production systems, economics, food security, water resources, rural development and human health. The Forum recognized ADPC as one of the potential partners for undertaking efforts to strengthen research capacity and to build inter-disciplinary approach to create a more effective application of seasonal-to-interannual climate prediction for agriculture and other sectors. The IRI will provide opportunity to bring together major regional institutions such as ADPC to foster end to end climate forecast application systems.
Start-up Strategy Session on the Program on Understanding
Extreme Climate Events The Start-up Strategy Session held at ADPC from 19-20 October 1998 launched the ECE program. The session was attended by delegates from the program's three pilot target countries, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, representatives from the ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center (ASMC), LA RED (a Latin American network of NGOs, individuals and organizations working in disaster prevention), ADPC, USAID, NOAA and the U.S. Department of State. The key objectives of the Start-up Strategy Session were to share the preliminary design of the ECE program, brainstorm on its different components and obtain strategic guidance from the key stakeholders. One of the main outputs of the meeting was a broad implementation strategy for the program, which identified key issues that the program should address, appropriate institutional contacts (in different sectors) for information gathering and dissemination and appropriate time frame for various activities. Institutional partners for the documentation process in the three study countries were also identified. For more information on the workshop, please click here.
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