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UNESCO to host 2-day training workshop on the Zimbabwe Flood and Drought Monitor
UNESCO Regional office for Southern Africa in partnership with the Meteorological Services Department MSD and Princeton University will host a 2day training workshop on the Zimbabwe Flood and Drought Monitor ZFDM in Harare from 25 26 November 2019 The training session will focus mainly on monitoring and early warning of extreme weather events It will also introduce the pilot Zimbabwe Flood and Drought Monitor to strengthen the capacity for disaster preparedness and resilience to extreme hydrometeorological phenomena in Zimbabwe The ZFDM provides a userfriendly highresolution system that monitors and forecasts floods and droughts in the country The workshop will also be used as a platform to interact with stakeholders that are engaged in disaster risk management and climate services development which will allow to assess the gaps and needs to move towards proactive climate risk management Feedback from all the sessions will contribute to the further development of a longterm project on the development of a communitycentered decisionsupportsystem for monitoring and early warning of climate risks in Zimbabwe The meeting comes at an opportune time when the country is in need of strengthening the flood and drought early warning capabilities monitoring and risk management Zimbabwe still lags behind in terms of having a consolidated and operational Early Warning System EWS at the national level As climate change is increasing the frequency of water related hazards the need for an operational Early Warning System becomes even more pressing The ZFDM which strengthens proactive climate risk management in the country contributes to Zimbabwes efforts to establish a National Framework for Climate Services The workshop will precede a highlevel dialogue on the Zimbabwe National Framework for Climate Services discussing the gaps and needs for climate risk management as well as resource mobilisation for climate resilience building in Zimbabwe This highlevel dialogue will be held on the 27th of November and will provide an opportunity to engage with responsible ministers donors and experts in climate services and climate risk management For more information please contact kverbistunescoorg