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First Coordinated Capacity Assessment of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in Support of Disaster Risk Reduction (2006)
In 2006, WMO conducted a national survey to benchmark existing capacities, gaps and needs of its Members for development of meteorological, hydrological and climate –related information to support disaster risk reduction. The national survey, addressed capacities of NMHSs to contribute to all aspects of disaster risk reduction including risk identification, sectoral planning, early warning system, education and knowledge sharing. Of the 187 members of WMO at the time, 139 (74 per cent) countries participated in this survey.
The regional survey addressed regional capacities and partnerships that could be leveraged to support meteorological, hydrological and climate related information to countries, particularly those with the least resources.
The overall results of the assessments indicated that NMHSs face significant challenges to support DRR in their respective countries, including:
- Legislative and planning: Over 70 per cent of countries are still focused on post-disaster response, lacking effective planning, legislation, coordination and institutional capacities in disaster risk management. However, partners such as the United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and development agencies are working with the national and local governments to facilitate the implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA). This has significant implications for receptivity and capacities of the government and disaster risk management authorities in investing in and utilizing NMHS information and services.
- Infrastructure: Over 65 per cent of NMHSs are significantly challenged with respect to their core infrastructure (observational networks, forecasting systems, telecommunication) needing some level of modernization and sustainability of these capacities.
- Technical and scientific: On the operational side, nearly 80 per cent of NMHSs require various technical tools, guidelines and training for meteorological, hydrological and climate-related hazard database and meta data maintenance, hazard analysis and mapping, various forecasting and analysis tools. Statistical climate analysis augmented with information derived from climate prediction and forecasting tools (as also concluded in the Third World Climate Conference (WCC-III)) provide unprecedented opportunities for provision of climate services to support preventive strategies for a number of sectors such as insurance/reinsurance, infrastructure and land zoning, agriculture, however, there is need for more research and development in this area.
- Institutional partnerships and service delivery: Over 80 per cent of NMHSs have indicated the need to strengthen their partnerships with various disaster risk management stakeholders, pertaining to coordination and management, operational cooperation and service delivery. The new paradigm of disaster risk management within a changing climate is leading to a much user segments, whose needs and requirements need to be understood.
The results of these surveys have been synthesized and the report is available below as a full document download (~4 MB) or by chapter.
Chapter |
Title |
Size |
Download |
- |
Front Page and Table of Contents |
~300 KB |
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1 |
Introduction and General Background |
~300 KB |
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2 |
The WMO Disaster Risk Reduction Country-level Survey |
~300 KB |
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3 |
Global Analysis |
~300 KB |
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4 |
Africa (WMO Regional Association I) |
~300 KB |
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5 |
Asia (WMO Regional Association II) |
~300 KB |
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6 |
South America (Wmo Regional Association III) |
~300 KB |
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7 |
North and Central America And The Caribbean
(WMO Regional Association IV) |
~300 KB |
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8 |
The South-West Pacific (WMO Regional Association V) |
~300 KB |
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9 |
Europe (WMO Regional Association VI) |
~300 KB |
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10 |
Developing Countries (DC) |
~300 KB |
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11 |
Least Developed Countries (LDC) |
~300 KB |
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12 |
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) |
~300 KB |
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13 |
Developed Countries |
~170 KB |
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14 |
Conclusions |
~300 KB |
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Table of Figures |
~350 KB |
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Annexes |
~2.7 MB |
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