Funded by the European Commission’s European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO), Wirwina project aimed to improve Early Warning Systems for hydro-meteorological hazards in Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru by providing state-of-the-art technological tools and fostering the exchange of knowledge, experience and information between the involved countries. The project’s name comes from an Andean plant (genus Verbena), used by farmers in Peru and Bolivia as a bio-indicator of climatic conditions (rain, drought, frost).
Wirwina project was implemented between 2018 and 2019 and it allowed for the continuation of the previous work carried out by CIMA Research Foundation in Bolivia since 2012which led to the implementation of myDEWETRA, a platform for risk forecasting and monitoring used by the Italian Civil Protection Department. Based on the positive example of the Bolivian implementation, and thanks to the partnership established with WeWorld-GVC onlus (WW-GVC) and Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI), CIMA Research Foundation supported the platform’s implementation also Ig in Peru and Paraguay, countries with high hydro-meteorological risk,a aiming to provide an inter-institutional support tool for national and transboundary risk management.
myDEWETRA was adapted to local needs in collaboration with the national institutions involved in risk management, namely Centro de Operaciones de Emergencia Nacional (COEN) and Instituto Nacional de Defensa Civil (INDECI) in Peru and Dirección de MeteorologÃa e HidrologÃa (DMH) and Secretaria de Emergencia Nacional (SEN) in Paraguay.
Moreover, monitoring networks for hydro-meteorological risk in Bolivia and Paraguay were also strengthened. through the open-hardware technology ACRONET. : two abandonedweather stations in Bolivia were rehabilitated a and a new hydrological station was installed on the Paraguay river at Asunción. The weather stations were assembled in SENAMHI Bolivia’s sensor laboratory. Thanks to the collaboration with WeWorld-GVC onlus, technological materials and training courses on the use, configuration and maintenance of open-hardware tools were provided to local technicians.
