Arriving at Wiston House in West Sussex in glorious sunshine yesterday was a little incongruous with the topics, which will be under discussion this week. My colleagues and I are attending a Wilton Park event designed to stimulate dialogue on building and improving early-warning systems to prevent and reduce the impact of flooding in the Greater Horn of Africa – an area stretching from Sudan to Somalia and Kenya. Serious flooding is still fresh in the minds of those of us in the UK, and the impacts caused by floods are increased many times over in the more vulnerable parts of the world. A wide range of meteorology, hydrology and disaster risk reduction experts from the Greater Horn of Africa and further afield have gathered at Wilton Park to address the pressing need to build more effective early-warning systems. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Met Office and Wilton Park have worked together to develop an event which will provoke discussion and debate between scientists and practitioners on the challenges faced and potential solutions.
Source: http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/guestpost/2016/09/29/stimulating-debate-early-warnings-protection-resilience/