Publication: Institutional Strengthening and Modernization of Hydromet and Multi-hazard Early Warning Services in Bhutan: A Road Map for 2024-2034
Loading...
Date
2024-10-28
ISSN
Published
2024-10-28
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This roadmap describes the current situation of hydromet service provision in Bhutan and presents a short- and medium-term modernization approach. It provides an overview of the National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM), its financial and technical infrastructure, human resources, and information about the users of its products and services. To provide enhanced and fit-for-purpose services to its users, the roadmap presents two development stages to help strengthen the capabilities of the NCHM to better deliver hydromet information, impact-based forecasting, and multi-hazard early warning services (MHEWS). The executive summary provides an overview of the key points and recommendations. In section one, the introduction, some basic background is provided on the climate of Bhutan and the consequent natural hazards, and on the organization of the NCHM and its position within the government structures. Section two, the approach to modernization, describes a generic framework which is used to analyze the different elements within a National Meteorological and Hydrological Service and to determine their maturity according to a five-level scale, ranging from low to advanced. In section three, the current status of NCHM services and infrastructure, the work of the NCHM is described and the generic framework outlined in section two is applied to the different elements within the organization to establish the baseline level of maturity for each. Section four is the roadmap for modernizing and strengthening NCHM’s services and systems. The conclusion in section five offers some broader thoughts beyond the detailed recommendations, including some suggestions for innovations and also on the possible role of public-private partnerships within the weather enterprise in Bhutan. The annexes contain the detail of the costs and timelines associated with the modernization plans, as well as the implications for future staffing requirements.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2024. Institutional Strengthening and Modernization of Hydromet and Multi-hazard Early Warning Services in Bhutan: A Road Map for 2024-2034. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42315 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Strengthening Hydromet and Multi-hazard Early Warning Services in Uzbekistan(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-08)The road map presents a potential pathway to strengthen Uzbekistan’s national hydrometeorological (hydromet) and multi-hazard early warning systems and services, based on the needs of the user community. It is based on a technical evaluation and assessment of the needs and capacities of Uzhydromet which, as the main service provider in Uzbekistan, issues meteorological and hydrological information, forecasts and warnings. This road map identifies gaps and challenges in the production and delivery of weather, climate, and hydrological information and services, and proposes a strategy for improving the country’s institutional capacity in support of saving lives, protecting property and livelihoods, and social and economic developmentPublication Strengthening Hydromet and Early Warning Services in Belarus(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-04)The purpose of this road map is to assess the current capabilities of the Belarus hydrometeorological service to produce and deliver products and services based on the user needs. The analysis identifies gaps and challenges in producing and delivering fit-for-purpose weather, climate, hydrological, forest fire, and radiation-related information and services. The road map aims to provide the Government of the Republic of Belarus with a technical strategic framework to improve hydromet, forest fire, radiation monitoring and early warning services and systems, and the resulting socioeconomic benefits. The expectation is for Belarus to improve its capability and capacity to: (i) produce, manage, translate, and communicate hydromet, forest fire and radiation-related data and information, including forecasts and warnings for stakeholders and end-users; (ii) assist stakeholders and end-users in accessing, interpreting, and utilizing the generated data and information; (iii) improve the dissemination of and response to warnings for public safety and economic security; (iv) inform planning and decision-making for cost-effective investments in sustainable development and adaptation to climate change; and (v) make optimum use of all investments from the government and development partners. The road map lays out the current context of hydromet in Belarus, identifies the principal stakeholders and end-user community, and weighs these two factors against Belhydromet’s long-term strategy and the law of the Republic of Belarus. The road map drills down on the financial and technical infrastructure to determine if Belhydromet has the tools to match the country’s expectations and needs for services. The findings indicate: more robust tools can transform Belhydromet into a technically modern and sound hydromet service. The road map articulates three scenarios to transform Belhydromet to better deliver hydromet, forest fire and radiation-related information, and early warning services and systems.Publication A Strategic Roadmap for Advancing Multi-hazard Impact-based Early Warning Systems and Services in the Caribbean(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-21)As a region that is impacted by multiple shocks, multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) that provide timely, actionable information are critical to protecting lives, assets and livelihoods in the Caribbean. As the region experiences the compound and cascading effects of multiple hazards, the need to find cost-effective ways to improve regional and national impact-based MHEWS is growing. Although a few Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have an operational MHEWS dealing with hydrometeorological hazards, there is not yet an operational system addressing an ensemble of multiple hazards of different origins such as hydrometeorological, geophysical or biological in a MHEWS context. This roadmap focuses on achieving people-centered and self-sustaining regional impact-based MHEWS that ensure participation from gender groups, community leaders, vulnerable groups, and the private sector. It is centered around ten strategic initiatives which, implemented together, can help transform national and regional delivery of the MHEWS required for the Caribbean to thrive. This roadmap presents these initiatives, the vision, inclusive guiding principles, and an analysis of the social and economic benefits of EWS. Finally, it makes recommendations for implementing.Publication Energy and Poverty Reduction : Proceedings from a Multi-Sector and Multi-Stakeholder Workshop - How Can Modern Energy Services Contribute to Poverty Reduction?(Washington, DC, 2003-03)This report summarizes the proceedings from a workshop, the first in the region designed to foster a multi-sectoral approach to development energy services for poverty reduction, held at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 23-25, 2002. It was co-organized by the World Bank-UNDP sponsored Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the World Bank Africa Energy Unit, and others. The report focuses on the key issues raised in the presentations and discussions which were structured around the following three themes: (a) Understanding the Energy-Poverty situation in the different countries as reflected in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) of each country and clarified by the Ministers and country delegates; (b) Understanding the role of Energy in meeting priority objectives in the social and economic sectors of health, education, water, agriculture and development of small to medium enterprises (SMEs); and (c) Designing appropriate response initiatives in the form of draft country action plans outlining the priority energy interventions required to enhance the effectiveness of poverty reduction strategies.Publication Calculating Multi-hazard City Risk(Washington, DC, 2011-09-26)Nearly half of East Asia population lives in cities and the region is urbanizing so rapidly that built up areas are projected to increase faster here than in any other region in the next twenty years. Still, more than half of slum dwellers around the world live in East Asia. These are the people most vulnerable to disaster impacts. Given that Asia accounted for more than a third of the number of all reported disasters in 2010, and that natural disasters have quadrupled in the region during the past twenty years the fastest rate of increase of any region in the world managing urban growth for resilience is increasingly important. And yet, many cities do not have master plans to guide their projected growth, let alone tools for risk sensitive land use planning. The impetus for action will come from accessible tools that allow local policymakers to first minimize risk today and then think about addressing future risk. This methodology report describes the underlying risk components, including a description of the models required inputs related to metropolitan elements at risk, hazard sub-indices for thirteen hazard types and thirty parameters of physical, socioeconomic, and institutional vulnerability. In addition to this report, three city reports present results that can be used by a variety of users from those interested in the overall city wide risk from all natural hazards to those interested in more disaggregated information.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Case Study 2 - Andhra Pradesh, India : Participation in Macroeconomic Policy Making and Reform(Washington, DC, 2003-03)For the past six years, the State of Andhra Pradesh in India has been at the vanguard of efforts to modernize the economy and the state while pursuing policies to improve the lives of the poorest. The Chief Minister and head of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, is known by some as the "Laptop Minister" for his modernizing initiatives. He has reached out to international organizations and investors but has also maintained his base of support at home, in part through expanded programs in education, health, and rural development. "I have initiated so many things," Naidu said. "They are going on and will pay off after some time. But people need something today." The challenges facing the government are daunting. Andhra Pradesh (AP) is one of the largest and poorest states in India. Its population of almost 80 million approaches that of the Philippines, the 13th most populous country in the world. Even as its high-tech industries develop rapidly, AP's overall literacy rate remains a modest 44% and one-third of the population lives in poverty.Publication Strategic Planning for Poverty Reduction in Vietnam : Progress and Challenges for Meeting the Localized Millennium Development Goals(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-01)This paper discusses the progress that Vietnam has made toward meeting a core set of development goals that the government recently adopted as part of its Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS). These goals are strongly related to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but are adapted and expanded to reflect Vietnam's national challenges and the government's ambitious development plans. For each Vietnam Development Goal, the authors describe recent trends in relation to the trajectories implied by the MDGs, outline the intermediate targets identified by the government, and discuss the challenges involved in meeting these. Relative to other countries of similar per capita expenditures, Vietnam has made rapid progress in a number of key areas. Poverty has halved over the 1990s, enrollment rates in primary education have risen to 91 percent (although there is a quality problem), indicators of gender equity have been strengthened, child mortality has been reduced, maternal health has improved, and real progress has been made in combating malaria and other communicable diseases. In contrast, Vietnam scores worse than other comparable countries in the areas of child malnutrition, access to clean water, and combating HIV/AIDS. A number of important crosscutting issues emerge from this analysis that need to be addressed. One such challenge is improving equity, both in terms of ensuring that the benefits of growth are distributed evenly across the population and in terms of access to public services. This will involve addressing the affordability of education and curative health care for poor households. Improvements in public expenditure planning are needed to align resources better to stated desired outcomes and to link nationally-defined targets to subnational planning and budgeting processes. There is also a need to address capacity and data gaps which will be crucial for effective monitoring.Publication Improving Access to Medicines in Developing Countries : Application of New Institutional Economics to the Analysis of Manufacturing and Distribution Issues(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-03)This paper examines alternative frameworks for empirical analysis of supply side activities, namely, the manufacture and distribution of medicine, through the application of New Institutional Economics (NIE) concepts. Attention is focused particularly upon the potential utility of ideas from agency theory, transaction cost analysis and contemporary ideas from strategy theory. The major purpose of this paper is to use these theoretical frameworks to provide insight for policy makers, when faced with specific situations, whether in an international agency, or a private company, or in defining a national strategy. The analysis attempts to show the importance of distinctions between ideas of 'make' or 'buy', between 'national self sufficiency' and 'international purchasing' strategies, the limitations of contractual agreements under market governance and the crucial linkages between strategy formulation, strategy implementation and the necessary capabilities to achieve successful performance in practice. The current international situation on the investment, location and capacity of pharmaceutical manufacturing is reviewed and likely future scenarios suggested. Correspondingly current patterns of trade in medicines and their likely development within the context of the WTO and bilateral trade agreements are discussed. Against this background the promise and the pitfalls for new forms of public-private partnerships, which may offer attractive alternatives to conventional structures are evaluated. The implications of alternative future strategic options for national governments in setting the balance between health and industrial policies are examined and in particular the extent to which a national manufacturing capability should be developed or sustained. Similarly the scope for improving low cost distribution systems for medicines, based upon a mix of public and private sector channels, is assessed. We conclude with suggestions for further development of a transaction-based framework.Publication Indonesia : Oil and Gas Sector Study(Washington, DC, 2000-06)This study attempts to provide a broad, first cut review of the most pressing issues facing the sector, and to recommend ways to ameliorate or eliminate the problems. The main problems are: 1) petroleum product prices are heavily subsidized at the aggregate level and distorted at relative levels, and thus need to be rationalized within an economic framework; 2) the functions and role of the state oil and gas company (Pertamina) are problematic, and therefore Pertamina must be fundamentally restructured to eliminate the conflicts of interest and inefficiencies; 3) some of the provisions of the production sharing contracts are relatively regressive and need to be re-evaluated with a view to maximize the contribution of the sector to the economy, and to increase upstream investment by the private sector; 4) existing laws and regulations are inadequate and must be replaced; 5) petroleum products are of poor quality and must be improved, particularly by phasing out the lead from gasoline; and 6) energy sector institutions are weak and must be strengthened. Although the issues are complex and sweeping changes are needed, given the current political climate, this is an opportune time for Indonesia to begin the process. As a first step, preparing an official and comprehensive declaration of government policy for the hydrocarbon sector is critically important--needed are the vision for the sector, policy objectives, and policy actions required to solve the sector's problems.Publication Kingdom of Morocco : Poverty Update, Volume 1. Main Report(Washington, DC, 2001-03-30)According to the 1998-99 Living Standards Measurement Survey conducted in Moroocco, poverty showed a disturbing increase during the 1990s, regardless of how poverty is measured. This report updates the poverty profile for Morocco following the comprehensive approach suggested by the latest World Development Report (see report no. 20888 for an overview of this report). It presents a detailed analysis of 1) Poverty trends in the 1990s (Chapter 2), 2) which factors are key in explaining the observed increase in poverty (Chapter 3), and 3) the support given to the poor by Government intervention (Chapter 4). An overview of the main initiatives taken by the authorities as well as by nongovernmental organizations and private businesses in the late 1990s is presented in the first chapter; their effects, though not captured by the 1998/99 data, are likely to have a significant impact on poverty reduction in the coming years.