Setting up Burundi's early warning system for climate risks

Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world; the majority of its population lives in dependence of subsistence farming and is thus progressively faced by the existential threat of changing rainfall patterns occurring in the course of climate change. Burundi’s government has developed a communication strategy for climate change adaptation and early warning in regard to extreme weather events. In the course of implementing this strategy, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) commissioned adelphi and GITEC with the construction of an improved early warning system for severe weather events and floods, slope failure and drought, all within the framework of GIZ’s Acces (adapting to climate change with a focus on land and water resources) project.

This work concentrated (1) on the institutional strengthening of the national platform for disaster management, with the goal of constructing an effective and comprehensive early warning system, (2) on piloting the setup of local committees for disaster management and (3) on supporting the construction of reliable and effective communication and dissemination mechanisms for regular weather forecasts.

adelphi’s principle roles comprised the technical management of local staff, policy and strategy consultancy for the national disaster management platform, and in impact monitoring.