The findings of the IPCC experts in their latest report (2022) are very clear: climate change increases the intensity of climate hazards and their frequency on a global scale. Heatwaves in Europe and India, floods in China, disastrous events in Africa and France: the consequences of climate change are being felt all over the world. The impact and pressure of intense natural phenomena on our systems (leading to both human and material losses) are growing. As a witness to these developments, PREDICT Services continuously monitors these hazardous natural phenomena in real time all over the world and assists regional and local authorities, risk managers from private groups, insurers and individuals with their decision-making. To address the challenges posed by climate change, adapt, cope and protect ourselves, it is now necessary more than ever to strengthen the action taken by society as a whole.  

Synergies between public and private players already in place

There is now a real awareness, in both the private and public spheres. By better identifying the needs, devising efficient solutions and implementing them, the stakeholders can jointly build actions for prevention, early warning, vulnerability reduction and, ultimately, disaster reduction. Together, it is essential for everyone at their own level to find solutions and data to minimize the impact of natural disasters. For example, a number of industrial groups and insurers have already taken measures to anticipate the risks on their sites and minimize the effects of climate hazards. A number of research projects are markers of this collaborative approach. They are led in consortium to exploit expertise, share data and contribute to the deployment of solutions.  

A major imperative: improving the quality of and access to date and services

There continues to be a lack of access to the information required to address climate change issues. A number of projects led with regional and international organizations have achieved significant progress on the issue, such as Copernicus and the Climate Data of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), but there is still a major challenge. Knowledge of the risk, which is essential for planning safeguard actions and the responsiveness of decision-makers, varies widely and in some cases there is none whatsoever. Creating data to identify the areas at risk and priority issues is therefore a prerequisite for any organization of efficient crisis management. Similarly, data to effectively anticipate changes in weather conditions and analyze them in real time on a global scale are also still largely insufficient. To compensate for this, PREDICT devotes a significant part of its activity to basic and applied research. It is also working on several innovative and operational projects which aim to facilitate the detection and real-time monitoring of risk events. The objective is to collectively help improve the responsiveness of warning systems and therefore contribute to ensuring people’s safety at local level. The prospects for new initiatives to promote this public-private partnership, with the aim of increasing the resilience of the populations at risk, are a major source of hope for the coming years.  

COSPARIN: an innovative project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA)

To address the issues raised and the difficulty in accessing data, in 2018, PREDICT Services launched a research project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Center for Space Studies (CNES), with technical assistance provided by Météo-France and CEREMA. The overall objective is to contribute to improving the resilience of people, economic activities and the preservation of the environment through a better anticipation of risks. A number of territories throughout the world are not covered by weather radars and do not have hazard zoning, which makes it difficult to identify (and therefore prevent) climatic events. The COSPARIN project (for Spatial Contribution on Flood Risk Analysis) came about through this observation. It has developed data and sustainable solutions for risk management and measured the impact of climate change on people and societies. COSPARIN also provides a response to the identified need, in particular as it has devised satellite-based rainfall estimation data as well as estimation data for flood-prone areas, which have also been developed using spatial data (from Airbus DS Geo) and a CEREMA model, covering the entire planet. The results achieved represent a significant step forward in knowledge of the risks. They contribute to improving resilience to climate change.