The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $998,000 grant to strengthen the capacity of Latin American and Caribbean nations to reduce the harmful social and economic effects of the periodic El Niño climate phenomenon through better scientific monitoring and meteorological forecasting.
The resources from the Japan Special Fund, which is administered by the IDB, will finance the design and feasibility study of an early warning system that will help vulnerable countries prepare for the periodic climate disruption, which causes severe floods in some countries and droughts in others.
Other components of the project, to be carried out by the World Meteorological Organization*, with the participation of the International Food Policy Research Institute, the International Research Institute, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and consultants, include evaluation of existing institutional and technical capabilities of national weather and climate forecasting organizations, diagnostic analyses of socio-economic vulnerabilities, and design of implementation plans and policy proposals.
The total cost of the project is $1,538,000.
NOAA and the World Meteorological Organization are each contributing $170,000 to the project. Individual countries that participate are to contribute up to a total of $200,000.