The government’s weather forecasting agencies will be working with local communities and agricultural areas for El Niño phenomenon forecasting and dam status monitoring as agreed during a recent meeting of the El Niño team.
In a meeting held last August 29 via videoconferencing, the El Niño team also agreed to include historical data on the El Niño on irrigation system to serve as a reference to certain communities.
The team also wanted to emphasize the residual impacts of the dry spell, which could persist for a specific period and make it a reference source for stakeholders.
The El Niño forecasting and dam status monitoring will be carried out by the data analytics group in coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
Other agreed action plans and interventions include the conduct of workshops, trainings and seminars together with their partner entities such as the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), as well as doing regular reporting to inform the body on its aims, goals and programs.
Best practices and the experiences of other countries on El Niño will also be discussed.
On the proposed workshop for the development of a National El Niño Team (NENT) Dashboard, the El Niño team agreed to conduct a workshop for its members. The NENT Dashboard will serve as a database for the National El Niño team.
The body is expected to receive the workshop output for approval with reference for inclusion in the El Niño Action Plan.
The team also agreed to plan and to prepare for a one-day workshop with other government agencies such as the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Health (DOH), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), with DOST-PAGASA as participating agencies. The workshop will be scheduled on September 6.
With regard to the development of a National Action Plan (NAP), the El Niño team said that although it is almost finished, the published El Niño National Action Plan is still considered a draft as it was not yet approved by the body and still needs more inputs from other agencies.
Concerned agencies are being asked to submit their inputs and reports immediately which will form part of the memorandum being prepared on the status of the NAP development for submission to the Secretary of National Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Chairperson.
The inclusion of the DICT as part of the Strategy Management Unit and Technical Working Group was also approved. The team, as agreed, will also re-evaluation of the proposal to remove the DSWD as a member of the Secretariat. *PND*
