Climate Information and Humanitarian Assistance

The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre produced a short video for COP 15 called Using Climate and Weather Forecasts to Improve Humanitarian Decision Making. In the video, staff from the three organizations detail how they have been working together to incorporate seasonal forecasts and other climate information into the IFRC's humanitarian-preparedness and response operations. They also discuss a specific example of when a seasonal forecast was used for early action on flood preparedness in West Africa in 2008.

The video looped on the iSeeT @ Climate Change Kiosk in the Bella Center, December 14 & 15. Watch it here now, or share it with your colleagues and friends via the IRI multimedia page.

To read more about the collaboration between the IRI and IFRC, see here and here. To learn more about the IFRC's Early Warning, Early Action strategy visit here.

• World Disasters Report 2009
• Early Warning, Early Action: An Evaluation of IFRC West and Central Africa Zone Flood Preparedness and Response, 2008
• The Access and Use of Climate and Weather Information in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: Initial observations from the field