SEPTEMBER 2019

Since 2009, the ClimDev Fund at the African Development Bank has invested in technology projects, including Climate and Weather Observation networks, which enable countries across Africa to access reliable climate and weather information, and to produce, share and use it, as needed.

Enjoy highlights from our participation in conversations about the role of climate and weather information services in Africa.

Host/photo credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

Professor Laban Ogallo, Climate Scientist at the University of Nairobi's Department of Meteorology and Dr. James Kinyangi, head of the ClimDev Fund at the African Development Bank, on Africa, climate and the local solutions that are key to tackling climate change. LISTEN

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A $1 million ClimDev Fund investment in Automatic Weather Stations is helping Ethiopia enhance the capacity of its National Meteorology Agency (NMA) to manage the risks and vulnerabilities associated with extreme climate and weather events.

Ethiopia’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, with about three quarters of the country’s population of over 100 million people reliant on rain-fed agriculture. Agriculture generates 80% of exports and occupies 80% of the labor force. A $1 million ClimDev Fund investment helped Ethiopia to strengthen its satellite-based monitoring capacity for rainfall estimation. The NMA has embarked on an ambitious effort to replace all paper-based tools. The Agromet Case Team, in the Development Meteorology Service Directorate, is working to digitise THREE MILLION pieces of data, to improve the quality of climate data and ensure the integrity of weather information products.

Yimer Assefa leads a team that develops products for Ethiopia’s agriculture, insurance and construction industries, as well as organisations like the World Food Programme.

This Automatic Weather Station i(AWS) in Hamus Gebeya, about 100 km from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is one of 18 supported by the ClimDev Fund to increase the number of AWS from 271 to 289.

Henock Hailu, Director of Ethiopia’s Regional Meteorological Service Centres Coordination Office, explains how his team turned community resistance to the installation of an Automatic Weather Station into support.

Kenya is home to the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), one of five regional climate centres supported by the ClimDev Fund, across Africa.

ICPAC’s new facility is in the process of being fully equipped to power the Centre’s work on providing high quality climate and weather information to 11 countries in the Greater Horn of Africa.

Learn more about ICPAC http://www.icpac.net

Meteorologist Liban Ali, from Djibouti, spent time at ICPAC in Nairobi strengthening his capacity to build data simulation and weather prediction models, a skill that is much needed in his home country. Liban plans to continue his professional development through a regional seasonal forecasting workshop.

Somunesh is a hydrologist from Ethiopia. A recent two-month placement at ICPAC, in Nairobi, helped build her capacity to use the Centre’s climate and weather information products, for analysing data for real-time forecasts or drought and flood management.

Hafsa Ahmad, Sudan’s Disaster Risk Management focal point and GIS Specialist, is on a 5-month placement at ICPAC for professional development and to share experiences with peers from other countries in the region.

Want to know what the weather has in store for East Africa in the last quarter of 2019? Our friends @icpac_igad have posted their latest seasonal forecast

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