The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently organized its second workshop on Early Warning Systems and Anticipatory Action for Agriculture, which was held on December 6th and 7th, 2023, in Antigua and Barbuda.

This workshop was part of a regional series, with the first held in Guyana in November and the third scheduled for the first quarter of 2024 in Barbados.

The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Roberto Sandoval, the Disaster Risk Management Specialist and Emergency Focal Point for FAO Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean.

The workshop discussed the importance of Anticipatory Action as a pivotal approach to disaster risk management. The Anticipatory Action method, when integrated with investments in disaster risk reduction and resilience building, addresses vulnerability and safeguards development gains.

The method aims to protect livelihoods from immediate hazards, enhance assistance effectiveness, reduce emergency response costs, and improve community resilience. The foundation of any anticipatory action system lies in early warning systems, which enable the timely monitoring and communication of impending hazards.

By adopting such systems, communities can prepare themselves to face potential hazards beforehand, thus minimizing the damage caused by these hazards.