1 December 2014
FAO Launches Index for Risk Management
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has launched a tool that will use data from a range of international organizations and academic institutions to help countries prevent and respond to crises.

The Index for Risk Management (InfoRM) currently covers 191 countries.

FAO27 November 2014: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has launched a tool that will use data from a range of international organizations and academic institutions to help countries prevent and respond to crises. The Index for Risk Management (InfoRM) currently covers 191 countries.

For each country, the Index syntheses data to create a risk profile, using 50 indicators that measure: hazards and exposure of people; vulnerability of communities to those hazards; and their capacity to cope with them. InfoRM can then be used by national governments, development and relief organizations and others to identify where and why crises are likely to occur.

The tool can be used for a wide variety of crises, from plant pests and animal diseases to conflict. FAO provides data on average dietary supply adequacy, prevalence of undernourishment, domestic food price level and volatility and drought risk.

Dominique Burgeon, Coordinator of FAO’s resilience work, said the multi-hazard risk assessment tool will help strengthen FAO’s efforts to better understand risk in different countries and “build resilience where it is needed the most.”

FAO, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Team for Preparedness and Resilience, the European Commission (EC) and others collaborated on InfoRM’s development. FAO launched InfoRM on 19 November 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. [FAO Press Release] [UN Press Release] [InfoRM Website] [InfoRM Partners]

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