Context
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Guyana is extremely susceptible to hydro-meteorological hazards, such as flooding and droughts that often have a devastating impact on the country’s primary industry – agriculture. The multiplier effect of climate change poses numerous cross-cutting challenges to agricultural communities with regard to poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, and livelihood opportunities, especially for vulnerable small farmers, livestock holders, and agro-processors.
In order to reduce vulnerabilities and bolster disaster management capacity in Guyana, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and national stakeholders implemented a 3-year project tackling the three main challenges:
- Gaps in gender analysis, hazard and risk data;
- Limited integration of climate change and disaster risk planning and practices in the agriculture sector;
- Limited access to appropriate, sustainable finance for vulnerable small farmers and women.
Funded by the Government of Japan, this project had many outputs, including the Development of Guyana’s NationwideFlood Early Warning System (NFEWS).
Nationwide Flood Forecasting System
UNOSAT
To enhance Guyana’s disaster resilience with a particular focus on flood-prone communities, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT), in close collaboration with UNDP, the CIMA Research Foundation (CIMA) and cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) Hydrometeorological Service (Hydromet), developed and implemented a Flood Forecasting System for Guyana The Nationwide Flood Forecasting System (NFFS) was designed for the prediction of extreme flood events.
This NFFS, which results are presented via myDewetra interactive platform, aims to enhance disaster resilience, with a particular focus on flood-prone communities, using numerical weather prediction models and a nationwide hydrological model. The NFFS is also linked to a two-dimensional hydraulic model piloted in four of the vulnerable flood-prone communities. As a result, the development of flood maps for these communities will be possible for extreme flood events.
This activity, within the project "Strengthen Disaster Management Capacity of Women in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Commonwealth of Dominica", was complemented with the delivery of capacity development activities to ensure the sustainability of the system but also to provide key stakeholders with knowledge about Operational Flood Forecasting, Flood Early Warning System and Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) use for Flood Risk Management (see related links for more information).
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