This session included two panel discussions bringing together speakers from global meteorological institutes, donors and regional institutes to discuss their efforts towards capacity building of NHMS on Impact-based Forecasting (IBF).

Jenni Latikka, Project Manager from the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and Sumit Dugar, Disaster Resilience Adviser from Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) & ARRCC Disaster Resilience Adviser highlighted the importance of long-term capacity building as stakeholders have varying understandings of forecasts and risk. Thus, we need to make sure that all stakeholders understand the concepts and make informed choices based on the data that is available. Hence, it is very important to have capacity building to learn how to utilise the data which requires long-term investment.

Dr. Ahmadul Hassan from the Red Cross Climate Center also pointed towards the ownership of the impact-based forecasts: we can only create a sustainable system if we explain why we are doing something and what the benefits are. This needs additional national financing to operate and maintain the impact-based forecasting systems to ensure sustainability of the systems.

Dr. Abdul Manan from the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) shared experiences of engaging stakeholders in the development of bilingual forecasts for communities and emphasised their commitment to generating information on “What weather the will do, rather than what the weather will be” and shifting this mindset across the national stakeholders. He highlighted the importance of ensuring clarity across terminology on IBF and the need to increase access to training for forecasters and operators to address uncertainty and assess impacts.

Dr. Shrestha, Deputy Director General from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) in Nepal shared her lessons learned from implementing an Impact Based Forecasting (IBF) pilot programme in 4 districts in Nepal. She highlighted that this is still a new approach in Nepal and emphasised the value of ensuring an inclusive approach working closely with stakeholders both at the central level with technical expertise and formal mandates, and in parallel with the communities and local actors to build their awareness and ownership of the IBF. The challenge of communicating the uncertainty of forecasts, building long-term institutional capacity, clarifying roles and responsibilities and influencing public behaviour when forecasts are disseminated during religious festivals. She also emphasised the importance of continuous learning and being open about “the power of knowing what you don’t know”.

Together the speakers acknowledged the need to focus on bringing together local and national level stakeholders, sharing lessons and continuously learning to improve the development, use and sustainable scale up of impact based forecasts.