An Investigation of the Potential of Citizen Meteorologists for Effective Weather Warning and Communications in Developing Countries: A Case Studies from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is known to the world as a country of natural disasters. Weather and Climate-related natural disasters such as Tropical cyclones, floods, and Thunderstorms pose significant threats to human life, infrastructure, and the environment. Developing countries like Bangladesh are often the hardest hit when these catastrophic events occur due to their vulnerable socio-economic conditions and inadequate resources. Bangladesh witnessed 17 out of the 36 deadliest cyclones in the world's recorded history. All the IPCC reports published till now ranked Bangladesh as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to anthropogenic warming of the Earth. A crucial factor contributing to many developing countries susceptibility to weather and climate related natural disaster is the lack of skilled human resources capable of effectively communicating high-impact weather events risk with sufficient lead time to minimize natural disaster risks in the absence of skilled human resource. However, science meteorologists can play a pivotal role in narrowing this gap, empowering communities, and reducing the impact of natural disasters in developing countries. The current study investigation the potential of citizen meteorologist in minimizing natural disaster risk by filling the skilled human resource gap in developing countries by analyzing the role of citizen meteorologist during several high-impact weather events in Bangladesh which government agencies failed to communicate. One of the main goals of this study is to discuss the enormous potential of science communication in minimizing disaster risk in developing countries. The current study both subjectively and objectively investigated the effectiveness of citizen weather warning can communications. Our study found that citizen weather forecasters greatly benefited Bangladeshi growers, fish farmers, and tourists and empowered them to protect their life, crops, fish stocks, and livelihoods. These inspiring success stories highlight the transformative power of citizen science in weather forecasting. Further, our study shed light on the invaluable contributions of citizen meteorologists and their potential to complement official weather forecasting agencies.