Colombia’s capital cities account for approximately 47% of the national population. Therefore, strengthening their capacity to anticipate the El Niño phenomenon is a strategic priority for reducing its impact on communities, infrastructure, economic activity, and the provision of public services.
For this purpose, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP Colombia) and the Colombian Association of Capital Cities (Asocapitales) made a tool available to the mayors of the 32 capital cities and their government teams to effectively manage the 2026-2027 El Niño phenomenon.
It is an ABC guide that focuses on priorities such as protecting the water supply, anticipating fires, and ensuring that hospitals and essential services maintain their operations.
The guide seeks to turn technical information into timely and verifiable decisions. To this end, it proposes a roadmap that allows administrations to identify what they need to monitor, what they need to prepare, when to activate measures, and whom to coordinate with.
The ABC identifies 19 risk scenarios, including shortages of water sources, drinking water shortages, vegetation fires, deterioration in air quality, heat-related impacts, vector-borne diseases, and impacts on food security.
One of its main components is a decision-making traffic light with three levels: yellow for preparedness, orange for anticipatory action, and red for crisis response. This scheme provides benchmarks for each capital to define, together with its technical teams and public utility companies, the indicators that will guide the activation of measures.
The thresholds must be adjusted to the conditions of each territory. The tool does not establish a uniform alert for all capital cities; instead, it promotes decisions based on the behavior of their water sources, response capacity, and local risks.
Water, hospitals, and response capacity
Among the proposed actions are preparing periodic assessments of water supply and demand, identifying alternative sources of supply, updating contingency plans, and preparing supply arrangements that can be activated if conditions require it.
The guide also recommends verifying hospitals’ backup water and energy systems, reviewing the operational capacity of fire departments, and strengthening public health surveillance.
These measures are organized into eight areas: water security; fires; energy and critical services; public health; food security and social protection; governance and resources; risk communication; and recovery.
To facilitate implementation, the document includes a monitoring dashboard that makes it possible to assign responsibilities, set deadlines, and verify progress. The recommendation is for mayors and their teams to conduct weekly or biweekly follow-ups, depending on how conditions evolve.
Rainfall should not halt preparations
The ABC warns that El Niño does not eliminate rainfall and that its effects may vary from one region to another. Therefore, capital cities must prepare both for water shortages and for intense downpours, sudden floods, and mass movements.
Asocapitales is calling for stronger coordination among mayors’ offices, public utility companies, environmental authorities, response agencies, and communities, with particular attention to the most vulnerable populations.
The partnership with UNDP Colombia seeks to translate technical knowledge into territorial management capacity: anticipating risks, making timely decisions, and protecting the population before the impacts turn into emergencies.