On 20 October 2014, the project "Building Resilience to Disasters in Western Balkans and Turkey", co-financed by the European Commission, the UNISDR and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), was successfully completed.
Among the achievements of the cooperative programme: The creation of a knowledge management system to enhance information exchange between partners; the Exchange of Experts Programmes to strenghten the network among local and national actors; and the reinforcement of National meteorological and hydrological services to ameliorate monitoring and forecasting capacities.
During the concluding meeting in Ankara, authorities from various Eastern European countries agreed on the implementation of a new cross-border early warning system to be developed in Turkey and the Western Balkans. The region-wide approach will enhance resilience to landslides, floods and drought that increasingly affect the region. Grounded on the cooperative framework of the "Building Resilience" project, the new regional plan will further ameliorate technical capacity for flood and drought risk assessment across vulnerable sectors and will promote cohesive flood management and forecasting services.
