Nurturing Partnerships to Support Data Access for Impact Forecasts and Warnings: Theoretical Integration and Synthesis

Abstract

Impact forecasts and warnings (IFW) have received global attention in recent years as they offer a novel way of improving the communication of hazards and risks by enabling warning services to meaningfully communicate the anticipated outcomes, consequences, or impacts of the hazard interacting with society or the environment. This paper presents a synthesis of findings from a research project that explored the data needs and sources for implementing impact forecasts and warnings (IFW) for extreme weather events.

As IFWs incorporate knowledge about the underlying and dynamic exposure and vulnerability of people and assets, they rely on multiple data sources from different agencies. Partnerships and collaboration facilitate the sharing of and access to the required data and knowledge.

Based on our findings, we provide recommendations to increase interagency communication and partnerships for IFWs and disaster risk reduction, such as making cohabitation arrangements between agencies, running joint training scenarios, and encouraging meteorological services and emergency responders to co-define tailored warning thresholds.