In building resilience to disasters, ESCAP is using innovations. ESCAP promotes impact-based forecasting which aims to understand “what the weather will do” rather than “what the weather will be”. ESCAP has developed a methodological approach for impact-based forecasting, overlaying weather information with regional, national, and sub-national risk profiles, and exposure and vulnerability information. Impact-based forecasting can help timely preparations and strategic decisions of key stakeholders in agriculture, disaster risk management, energy, health and water management, as well as the public.
ESCAP supports member States by building their capacity for impact-based forecasting, in collaboration with, among others, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other regional partners through Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs), ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee and WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones. The COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed the need to reformulate and paradigm shift from a single hazard, single sector perspective to a multi-hazard, multi-sectoral and systemic risk perspective. Through the integration of data from multiple sources, ESCAP developed a methodology that shed light on the new and complex riskscape of the Asia-Pacific region.
