Afghanistan is prone to many hydrometeorological hazards that have adversly affected the lives, properties, and livelihoods of the Afghan people for centuries. The most frequent and devastating hydrometeorological hazards include floods, flash floods, droughts, landslides, avalanches, and extreme heat and cold. In recent years, Meteorological and Hydrological capacity in Afghanistan has been developed on a project basis within different goverment organizations. An analysis of the Afghanistan Meteorological Department (AMD) revealed deficiencies in many areas including: the culture of service delivery, quality and accessibility of data and information to meet user needs, and physical capacity for data analysis, quality control, interpretation, and optimum use of available resources.

The DE-RISK project will develop climate risk management systems, best practices and insurance products that will shield smallholder farmers and businesses engaged in producing coffee, sugar, rice, cassava, rubber, dairy, and grazing across the agricultural value chain in key SE Asia countries from physical and financial disaster associated with climate change. Climate change is threatening the livelihoods and food security of millions of poor smallholder farmers and agribusiness who depend on agriculture in the South East Asia region. Despite the fact that the El Nino/Southern Oscillation system has such a major impact in the region and the impacts of which will be exacerbated under climate change there is little application of seasonal climate forecasting in managing the associated risks in the agricultural sector. The ability to forecast extreme/unusual climate conditions months in advance is arguably one of the most potentially important developments in the environmental sciences of current times and this project aims at improving seasonal climate forecasting capabilities in Southeast Asia countries to better prepare smallholders farmers for future climate extremes and to increase climate resilience.

Flash floods are among the world’s deadliest natural disasters with more than 5 000 lives lost annually. Their social, economic and environmental impacts are significant. Accounting for approximately 85% of flooding cases, flash floods also have the highest mortality rate among different classes of flooding, including riverine and coastal. Flash floods differ from river floods in their short time scales and occurrence on small spatial scales, which makes flash flood forecasting a different challenge from large-river flood forecasting. In flash floods forecasting, we are concerned mostly with the forecast of occurrence, and focus on two causative events: 1) intense rainfall; and 2) rainfall on saturated soils. Flash floods occur throughout the world, and the development times vary across regions from minutes to several hours depending on the land surface, geomorphological and hydrometeorological characteristics of the region. However, for the majority of these areas, there exists no formal process or capacity for developing flash flood warnings.

Climate services are key for adapting to climate variability and change and providing crucial climate information that assists individuals and organizations in society for improved decision-making in climate sensitive sectors. The Climate Services Information System (CSIS) is one of the five pillars and operational backbone of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).  Bhutan is a landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas, with altitudes ranging from 150 to 7500 metres above sea level (msl). It has three distinct climate zones: the southern belt (150 - 2000 msl) is characterized by a hot and humid climate, the central belt (2000 - 4000 msl) is characterized by a cool temperature and the northern belt (above 4000 msl) is characterized by an alpine climate. Due to its geographic location and the mountainous terrain, it is vulnerable to changes in climate. The Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) notes that addressing hydrometeorological disasters and strengthening of climate resilience are key priorities. One of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) as part of the Twelfth Five Year Plan of RGoB (2018-2023) is to enhance capacity to respond, mitigate and adapt to climate change.  This project is aimed at developing the capacities of the National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM) for effective climate services in Bhutan which will be achieved via deployment of a customized Climate Services Toolkit (CST). NCHM will be able to apply climate services for decision making in climate sensitive sectors.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has allocated CAD $10 million to the project Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydro-Meterological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South East Asia, representing its institutional support to the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative. An additional CAD 3.3 million has been provided from the CREWS Multi-Donor Trust Fund. Running until March 2021, the multi-country project will strengthen weather-, climate-, and water-related impact-based decision support services, protecting lives and property in three regions: South East Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.