CIMA Research Foundation started working in Bolivia in 2012 with a project funded by the Italian Cooperation and managed by Bolivia’s FAO division with the aim of implementing an Early Warning System at national level. In the past, in case of extreme events, the army was the only to intervene and only in the post-event phase.
Thanks to this project, an awareness operation was carried out throughout the disaster cycle and mainly in the pre-event phase where CIMA Research Foundation has partnered with the Bolivian National Hydro-meteorological Service to reinforce their meteorological forecasting capabilities. In a second phase, a full forecast system has been implemented in four hydrological basins.
In the future, CIMA Research Foundation aims to create a multi-sectorial situation room for emergency preparedness and management, involving national representatives from various ministries (eg. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water and Rural Development, Ministry of Education). A second objective of the project will be to predict the potential risk of forest fires. In this case, the Bolivian institutions will be equipped with the RISICO forecast model in use at the Italian Civil Protection Department.
CIMA Research Foundation goal is to replicate the experience gained in other South American countries such as Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Argentina with the aim of creating a regional network of knowledge exchange, information and tools, a key element to manage transnational events and emergencies.
