Main Contributors

This PAIA is guided by the Emergency Coordination Group under the chair of the Technical Cooperation Department (TC). Key contributions come from TCA and especially the new TCE Division covering emergency operations and rehabilitation, while involving other substantial contributions from AG (land and water planning to mitigate natural disasters, emergencies linked to plant pests and migratory pests), ES (nutrition and household food security in emergencies), FO (work on forest fires and watershed protection) and SD (supportive databases).

Objectives

1. to develop FAO's capability as a diversified source of information on technical, institutional and policy considerations of relevance to the theme of this PAIA;
2. to increase synergies between the concerned FAO technical and operational units, so that normative activities reflect lessons learned from field experience; and
3. to increase FAO's effectiveness in relation to emergency preparedness and response at the field level.

Priorities

1. information and communication strategy to facilitate information management, access, dissemination, sharing and use by stakeholders, both at Headquarters and in the field;
2. formulation of strategies for preparedness, with emphasis on community-based measures linking with policy makers at sub-national level;
3. technical and operational guidelines and training materials aiming at capacity building for staff in FAO's country and Regional Offices on all aspects of disaster management;
4. refined methodologies on vulnerability and risk assessment and, in particular, mapping vulnerability in risk-prone countries, combining food security and sustainable livelihood approaches;
5. methodologies and databases providing decision makers at all levels with enhanced predictive capacity for disaster occurrence, preparedness, mitigation and impact assessment; and
6. guidelines and advice to Members for mainstreaming of disaster risk management into development plans and programmes at local, country and international levels.

[extract from MTP 2004-09]