Towards a Climate Smart Community: A Web-based GIS App for Multi-hazard Early Warning against Climate-based Disaster Risks

About this CARP project

Climate change (CC) is expected to escalate the occurrence and severity of extreme weather and hydrological-related hazards, which will subsequently increase the number of people at risk from these hazards. Early warning of the likely occurrence of climate-related disaster risks and impacts could assist in decision-making to support proper disaster risk responses and formulation of CC adaptation and mitigation strategies for enhanced resilience. This project aims at piloting on developing an innovative multi-hazard early warning-based GIS App for Climate-based Disaster Risks service in the East African case of Tanzania. 

Study site: Dar es Salaam and Dodoma City, Tanzania.

 Main Research Questions

To support localized climate service and dissemination of climate-related information for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, the following are principal research questions that will guide the execution of this project.

• What is the current climate-related disaster risk early warning tools, user and functional requirements, practices, and the status of climate-related information flow?
• How can a data model for climate-related disaster risk early warning and management be developed?
• Where are the vulnerable communities to climate-related disaster risks and sea level rise located?
• How can a hydrometeorological disaster risk early warning web-based GIS application be designed and developed to alert vulnerable communities on climate hazards in a faster and more efficient way?
• How could the developed climate-related disaster early warning system be tested and evaluated?
• How could the developed climate-related disaster risk web GIS app be piloted? 

Developing a climate service-based early warning system of the likely occurrence of climate-related disaster risks and impacts could assist in decision-making to support proper disaster risk responses and formulation of CC adaptation and mitigation strategies for enhanced resilience and disaster risk reductions. The early warning Web-based GIS App for Climate-based Disaster Risks service to be developed will assist in informed-based decision-making to support disaster risk reduction and formulation of CC adaptation and mitigation strategies for enhanced resilience.