Enterprise-based early warning system training workshop for enterprises in Thailand

Background

Production processes and supply chains are increasingly at risk to recurrent hazards in recent decades. The 2011 floods in Thailand, for instance, claimed more than 800 lives, destroyed millions of tons of crops, and damaged industrial production. The World Bank estimates the damages and losses at $45.7 billion, while insurers point out indirect impacts on regional and global production, such as in the electronics sector.

The said event reveals the increasing vulnerability of enterprises to natural hazards. One of the ways of preventing these losses is shifting the enterprises away from high-risk areas, such as natural flood plains and coastal zones. However, these areas offer some advantages despite their vulnerability to periodic natural hazard events. In this case, the preferred option is to live with, and minimize, the risks to a considerable extent through actionable early warning for enhanced preparedness and more effective response to environmental hazards.

Indeed, it is now widely acknowledged that future losses can be significantly reduced through the application of early warning information. But the benefits of early warning can only be realized if information is:

o relevant to the risk environment of the enterprise;
o transformed into enterprise-specific actionable warning to inform and support decision-making; and
o updated in consideration of the changing patterns of natural hazards and production processes/ market risks.

This enterprise-based training addresses these conditions by providing practical guidance in developing and operationalizing an enterprise-based early warning system. The term ‘enterprise’ is used in this training to refer to any entity—public or private, whose activities/ processes are exposed to high risks. While the scope of the training is largely for the business sector, the featured concepts and strategies will cater to the non-profit sector as well.

Objectives

The training shall assist participants and their respective organizations in designing and/or implementing their early warning systems. It specifically helps them:

o develop an early warning system and risk management plan tailored to the needs of their organization;
o examine the kinds of tools and products that are available or could be developed to integrate information into forms most useful for them to make decisions at various levels; and
o set-up appropriate contingency plan or options to guide members of their organization against various hazards of different timescales.

At the end of the training, participants and/or their organizations can opt to collaborate with RIMES in establishing and sustaining their enterprise-based early warning system.

Structure

The training includes: i) a 3-day series of presentations and discussions, and ii) a 2-day enterprise-based guided planning workshop aimed at helping participants design an early warning system and risk management plan for their respective organizations. Upon confirmation of registration, RIMES and participants will undertake preliminary risk analysis and explore opportunities for integrating RIMES’ existing database of risk information into enterprise decision-making.

Part 1

Presentation and Discussion Series. These sessions are designed to orient participants to the many causes and facets of disasters. It also introduces the end-to-end early warning system framework, including hazards analysis and risk communication, with the aim of equipping them with the concepts and strategies useful for developing the enterprise-based early warning system and risk management plan.

Day 1, Module 1: End-to-End Early Warning System (EWS) Framework
o New Hazard Paradigm
o End-to-End EWS Framework and its Elements

Day 1, Module 2: Risk Analysis
o Hazard Identification Process
o Risk Analysis: Probabilities and Consequences
o Risk Management: Options Analysis

Day 2, Module 3: Forecast-Based Risk Analysis
o Advances in Weather Forecasting
o Hazard Forecast Based Risk Estimation Analysis
o Development of Decision Support Tools
o Hazard Forecasts and their Implications for Insurance Premium Structures

Day 3, Module 4: Risk Communication
o Risk Communication Process and Tools
o Contingency Plans
o Organizational Preparedness and Response Preparation

Part 2

Guided Planning Workshop. This intensive design workshop assists participants in understanding and addressing the risks that their organisations face by developing an early warning system and risk management plan. Participants apply the end-to-end EWS framework to develop an enterprise-based early warning system for their organization.

Day 4, Module 5: Early Warning for Enterprises
o End-to-End Early Warning for Enterprises
o Designing a Multi-Hazard End-to-End Early Warning System

Day 5, Module 6: Planning for a Sustainable and Disaster-resilient Enterprise
o Customization of RIMES’ Risk Information for Participating Enterprises

Method and Scope

The training will be conducted in English. It will involve presentations that highlight case studies and good practice examples, interactive discussions among participants, and panel discussions with leading experts and practitioners from RIMES and partner agencies. The guided planning feature of the training ensures that participants go back to their respective organizations with tangible outputs, in this case, a draft of an early warning system and risk management plan tailored to their organization’s needs.

Resource Persons

The Training will be delivered by leading experts and practitioners from RIMES and partner agencies.

Substitution and Cancellation

If you are unable to attend, a substitute applicant is welcome to attend in your place provided the latter meets course, as well as visa processing (where necessary), requirements. On the other hand, cancellations of attendance must be advised in writing to RIMES at least 3 weeks prior to commencement of the course; in which case, a refund less 15% of course cost for banking charges and administrative fees will be made. No refunds are available for cancellations within 3 weeks prior to course commencement.

About RIMES

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) is an international and intergovernmental institution that is registered with the United Nations and owned and managed by its Member States, through National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, for the generation and application of early warning information of different time scales from hours to centuries. RIMES interfaces with global centers of excellence to bring the best of science to the doorsteps of at-risk communities in 31 Member States and collaborating countries in Africa and Asia. RIMES helps build capacity of Member States in the observation and monitoring of seismic, tsunami, oceanic, meteorological, hydrological, and climate phenomena, and in the communication of associated risks, for appropriate and timely responses to warnings.

RIMES experts and scientists conduct regular and tailored courses, based on their extensive programme experience in the fields of numerical weather prediction, hydrology, early warning, disaster risk reduction, climate risk management, and climate change adaptation and development. RIMES’ courses are:

o Innovative and the first of their kind in introducing novel frameworks, strategies, practices, and tools
o Comprehensive in that they integrate the latest scientific developments into established concepts and principles from various communities of practice and/or disciplines, including disaster risk reduction
o Practical for their focus on the application of concepts
o Engaging as they include a support network with which participants can optionally avail of
o Expert-driven in that they are facilitated by an institution (i.e., RIMES, and its partners) that relate scientific, institutional and societal aspects of disaster risks