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Study visit in CBDRM and CRM for the
delegation of Jiangxi Province, P.R.China
(17th – 28th November
2009)
A delegation consisting of 5 officials from the Office of the Mountain-River-Lake Development Committee of Jiangxi Province, Meteorological Bureau of Jiangxi Province and Agricultural Department of Jiangxi Province, P.R.China undertook a study visit in Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) and Climate Risk Management (CRM) in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines from 17th – 28th November 2009. The purpose of the study visit was to deepen the theoretical knowledge and to learn good practice in CBDRM and CRM from ADPC’s three program countries mentioned above.
ADPC organized the study visit. During the opening ceremony on the 18th of November, Mr. Bradford Philips, Director of Public Health in Emergencies provided a welcome speech to the officials on behalf of ADPC. Dr. Bhichit Rattakul, Executive Director of ADPC also joined in welcoming the participants later after his return from a meeting outside ADPC’s office.
ADPC conducted a half day workshop for the officials. The presentations included briefing them about ADPC and its activities, introducing concepts of CBDRM and CRM as well as designing a CRM program. ADPC also facilitated and accompanied the delegates on their visit to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. In Bangkok, the delegates visited the Division of Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction of UNESCAP, the Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Academy of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), who is a part of the Ministry of Interior, Thailand. The delegates also visited Phuket, Thailand. The CBDRM activities that were conducted by farmers of Baan Nam Khem Community of Phuket, Thailand impressed the officials. A presentation in DDPM office of Phuket was made by its Director before visiting the community.
From 22nd to 25th November, the delegation visited Indonesia. In Jakarta, the officials visited the Bureau of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG). The Administrator of BMKG warmly welcomed the delegates, and BMKG also made presentations on BMKG’s meteorological products and CRM program in Indonesia. The Director-General of the Directorate of Food Crops Protection, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) received the delegates and made a presentation to the officials in person. Both the BMKG and MoA are the national government agencies who actively joined in the CRM program in Indonesia, which was initiatively facilitated by ADPC. On 24th November, upon an invitation from BMKG, the delegates attended the activity on socialization of evaluation and rainfall prediction in Indramayu, which is about 5 hours driving from Jakarta. The delegation visited the Regent of Indramayu on the following day. The two villages were also visited respectively and the farmers’ awareness and activities on climate application for agriculture impressed the participants.
The visit to the Philippines was the last stop for the participants. The delegation visited the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) immediately after arrived in Manila on 26th November, and they also met with the Administrator of PAGASA. The visit to Dumangas was short but gave a deep impression to the participants, particularly the information about their experiences in organizing the Climate Field School (CFS) for farmers in Dumangas as this is very useful to Jiangxi Province who have planned to implement such a program in the near future. The delegates had meetings with Municipal officials and listened to their presentations. The possible collaboration in agriculture between China and the Philippines was discussed during the meetings. They also visited the Agro-meteorological Station in Dumangas, which was built by local government and the community people with support from ADPC. One of the Jiangxi officials found that an advanced meteorological instrument was used by the Station, which surprised him, as China has not used this kind of instrument yet.
The delegates commented that the study visit was useful. In particular, it was useful for Jiangxi to conduct a CRM program in the near future once they get necessary funding from the Central government.