This webinar was organised with support from the European Union.

Anticipatory Action (AA) webinar series: Reducing disaster risk vulnerability in Bangladesh: Partner perspectives

6 December 2017 – 10.00 - 11.30 CET

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Speakers:

• Damien Joud, Food Security Cluster Coordinator, Food Security Cluster
• Thorsten Klose-Zuber, Division for Humanitarian Assistance – Policy, International Organisations, Multilateral Coordination; German Federal Foreign Office
• Alexandra Rüth, Head of Task Force Humanitarian Consequences to Climate Change (FbF), German Red Cross
• Manuela Reinfeld, Head of Analysis and Early Warning, WFP

Moderator:

• Dunja Dujanovic, Technical Officer, Early Warning Early Action, FAO

Evidence shows that the frequency and intensity of climate-driven natural disasters and conflicts is increasing. Natural disasters are occurring nearly five times as often compared with 40 years ago, placing a huge burden on local economies and putting millions of people in a vicious cycle of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty. Expanding needs, competing priorities and scarce resources globally mean that new, smart and effective tools and investments are needed to help attenuate the impact of disasters before they occur. Acting early before a disaster is critical: it can save lives, protect livelihoods from the immediate shocks and protect longer term development gains by increasing the resilience of local communities over time.

As many climate-related hazards can be forecast, the international community has formally committed to moving progressively towards a more anticipatory approach in humanitarian assistance. Much emphasis is now made on the importance to shift the focus from response to prevention and mitigation, and to adapt financing modalities accordingly.

Anticipatory Action (AA) releases humanitarian funding based on forecast information for pre-agreed activities reducing risks, enhancing preparedness and response, and making disaster risk reduction within the humanitarian assistance overall more effective. 

This webinar was the second event of a mini-series hosted by FAO KORE and FAO EWEA on FbF and was jointly organized with the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC). It was an opportunity to present and discuss experiences of Food Security Clusters, Cluster Lead Agencies and partners to strengthen community preparedness and resilience. In particular, the webinar presented experiences of FbF activities introduced in Bangladesh - one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.