The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) have taken a significant step towards enhancing the country's resilience to droughts and floods by signing a Letter of Intent (LOI), according to a press release launched by Pakistan Meteorological Department.
This collaborative effort aims to develop and implement anticipatory actions to mitigate the impacts of droughts and floods on vulnerable communities and agricultural sectors in Pakistan.
LOI is to support the highly exposed and vulnerable people in Pakistan to forecastable hazards through anticipatory humanitarian action through the projects supported by DG-ECHO, “Increasing Capacities and Scale for Anticipatory Action, including through Social Protection Systems” and “Pakistan-Integrated Disaster Preparedness (DP) for Resilience Building”.
The National Drought Monitoring and Early Warning Center (NDMC) and Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) of PMD, agreed to work collaboratively in improving early warning systems, through data sharing and mutual capacity development, which is an essential pillar of anticipatory action to help prepare at-risk communities, and to facilitate the activation of anticipatory action protocols ahead of an anticipated crisis.
The signing ceremony, held at the PMD office in Islamabad, was attended by key representatives from both organizations. Ms. Rolle Florence, FAO representative in Pakistan, and Mr. Mahr Sahibzad Khan, Director-General of PMD, signed the LOI on behalf of their respective organizations. Addressing the signing ceremony, Ms. Florence Rolle, appraised the efforts of the PMD team and for informative droughts/floods monitoring products, advisories and alerts to stakeholders, media and the public. Mr. Mahr Sahibzad Khan thanked to FAO Team for their trust in PMD and wishes to serve in the same spirit for the nation. PMD and FAO have already developed different protocols for early warnings of droughts/floods and anticipating action triggers.
