Enhancing institutional, technical capacities in risk management addressed at FAO workshop

With the changing weather patterns and risk of disasters, early warning systems and actions to protect the agriculture sector remain a priority for Guyana.
With this in mind, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), recently conducted a two-day workshop on Early Warning Systems and Anticipatory Action for Agriculture at the Guyana School of Agriculture at Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.

The workshop was facilitated by Disaster Risk Management Specialist from FAO, Dr. Roberto Sandoval, and was attended by 31 officers from agencies under the Agriculture Ministry, including Hydrometeorological Service, GLDA, GRDB, NAREI, NDIA, GuySuCo, MoA and Hope Coconut Industries.
By developing anticipatory actions based on early warnings, farmers and fishers can take precautionary and preventative measures once a warning is issued by the relevant agencies to prepare for any impending disaster. By taking such actions, they would be able to limit the impact on their livelihoods by securing their incomes by harvesting crops early, storing seeds, and relocating animals to safer grounds; and fishers can secure their boats and gear, to name a few benefits.
At an agency level, developing and implementing protocols for early actions (early warnings and anticipatory actions) ensures that we have the resources and tools ready to prepare for disasters before they happen. This strengthens us as a country working together to minimize agriculture loss and protecting our livelihoods.
At the end of the second day, the 31 agency participants were able to review early warning systems for Guyana’s main agricultural sectors, develop a crisis timeline, and identify anticipatory actions that can be taken to reduce the impact of floods and drought on the livelihoods of farmers and fishers in Guyana.
The main goal of the workshop was to facilitate a review of early warning systems for priority hazards/risks, and identify anticipatory actions, including those that could enhance preparedness and response. Early warning systems are the cornerstone of any anticipatory action system. They enable countries and institutions to monitor and clearly communicate early signs of a growing hazard, and predict when shocks will happen and where.
Anticipatory Action is increasingly being recognized as an important approach in disaster risk management. By complementing investments in disaster risk reduction and resilience building, it can help address vulnerability to disaster risks and protect development gains. It can protect livelihoods from the immediate effects of hazards, enhance the effectiveness of assistance, reduce the cost of emergency response, and improve the resilience of vulnerable communities over time.
This workshop addressed the second target specifically – enhancing the institutional and technical capacities – as it relates to early warning systems and anticipatory actions. These are two key areas of DRM that are important as we contend with the challenges posed by climate change. These activities contribute to our efforts to achieve #better production, #better nutrition # better environment and better life, leaving no one behind.
FAO has been working with the MoA to implement the “Building resilience to multiple shocks and stresses in the response and recovery from COVID-19 impacts in the Caribbean (Grenada, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines).”
In Guyana, the project targets livestock farmers with climate-resilient practices and technologies to increase their resilience to future flood events and shocks, and enhance the technical and institutional capacities of the Ministry of Agriculture to better mitigate the impacts of flood/drought, and manage systemic multi-hazard risks to provide emergency and recovery assistance.