PDRF launches dashboard tracking El Niño risks
Businesses can access free online resources from the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and the Connecting Business Initiative (CBI) to strengthen their preparedness for El Niño and other climate-related risks.
The resources — the PDRF’s 2026 El Niño dashboard and CBI’s Ready for Floods: A Practical Guide for Businesses — were presented to Filipino entrepreneurs during a recent joint webinar titled “Preparing Businesses for a Very Strong El Niño.” The initiative aims to help enterprises prepare for the potential impacts of the 2026-2027 El Niño.
Strengthening disaster preparedness
The webinar highlighted ways businesses can strengthen disaster preparedness, protect operations, and support the resilience of the communities they serve amid risks associated with drought, flooding, extreme heat. These hazards can also disrupt supply chains, water and energy supplies and workforce productivity.
In his presentation, Ralph Cedric Cabate, PDRF monitoring and analysis officer, described the dashboard as a centralized platform for monitoring El Niño conditions and their potential impacts across the Philippines.
The platform consolidates data from government agencies and international sources in a single, user-friendly interface, enabling businesses to monitor conditions, identify potential risks and make informed decisions on disaster preparedness and response.
According to Cabate, the dashboard features data on dam monitoring, monthly rainfall as a percentage of normal, drought outlooks, and forecasts of the probability and strength of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions.
El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern
ENSO is a climate pattern involving changes in sea-surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions in the tropical Pacific. Forecasts indicate whether conditions are likely to be El Niño, La Niña or neutral in the coming months.
The dashboard also features a color-coded map of the Philippines showing reservoir water levels alongside normal levels. It provides information to help users monitor water availability, assess drought conditions to identify areas that may face heightened risks.