Inter-agency SOPs for early action to El Niño/La Niña episodes

The following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are intended to help catalyse and guide earlier humanitarian and development action to future ENSO-related extreme weather events (including drought, flooding, cyclones and extreme heat/cold and related events such as disease outbreaks). The SOPs outline what actions need to be taken, by whom and by when, once there are warning signs of a possible or impending ENSO event, to mitigate or prevent its impacts. They outline development and humanitarian actions for the international system. While aimed in the first instance at responding to El Niño/La Niña forecasts, these SOPs may in future be reviewed/adapted as needed to apply to non-ENSO-related slow-onset extreme weather events for which early warning is available.

The SOPs aim to provide a structured framework for the initiation of early actions to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather caused by ENSO episodes through a focus on four key areas:

• Strengthened, on-time information and analysis on the foreseen impacts of ENSO episodes;
• Strengthened coordination that enables partners to implement early action in a timely way;
• Improved early action and preparedness planning at country level; • More systematic and earlier leveraging of financing mechanisms.

The target audience for the ENSO SOPs is Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) partners and relevant development actors at global, regional and national levels. Other key actors including affected countries, donors and private sector partners are not the primary target group of this document but are being consulted and invited to comment as relevant.