Addressing gender in climate information production and communication in West Africa

West African women, youth and marginalized people are particularly exposed to the adverse effects of climate change and variability, because of their very limited access to climate services and informations. These disadvantaged people must be extensively involved in training and capacity building on understanding climate risks and response options to cope with these hazards. It is imperative to mainstream the opinions of women, youth and marginalized people in the production, dissemination, communication and use of climate services and information in West Afric

Improving products and services of AGRHYMET climate information portal with Next Generation Seasonal Forecasts

The PyCPT is operational at the RCC-WAS. Seasonal forecasts (NextGen) are generated monthly. Seasonal forecast products (NextGen) are posted on the RCC-WAS portal and updated regularl

Subseasonal forecasts in West Africa: Current status and prospects for operationalization

Sub-seasonal forecasts help decision-making in across sectors, but there is an information gap for this Climate Information Service (CIS) in West Africa. International research efforts, the availability of computing resources at the regional level, and the operationalization of this service at the level of global climate centers offer an opportunity to bridge the information gap for this CIS in West Africa

Scaling the Next Generation of Seasonal Climate Forecasts through the West African Regional Climate Outlook Forum

Ninety participants, including 15 women, from the 17 National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in West and Central Africa were successfully trained on the NextGen/PyCPT tool through AICCRA side during 2022 PRESASS. NMHS staff have gained a good understanding of the benefits of the NextGen/PyCPT tool as a vital element in the development of better seasonal forecasts at national and regional levels, and how to use PyCPT. About half of the trainees planned to share the knowledge, skills and resources acquired during the training with their colleagues at institutional level. Follow up training was organized to selected AICCRA anchored and non-AICCRA countries in West Africa to strengthen the pool of expertise in the use of the NextGen tools. This needs to be strengthened in the future

West Africa regional training on ENACTS-related capacity for National Meteorological Services and the Regional Climate Centre

The AICCRA West Africa cluster in collaboration with AGRHYMET and IRI organized a regional capacity training on ENACTS tools. The Agence Nationale de la Météorologie (ANAM) of Burkina Faso hosted National Meteorological Services as well as the Regional Climate Center (AGRHYMET) experts from two AICCRA and three non-AICCRA countries from West Africa to build their capacity to produce more tailored and real-time climate information and services for decision making. Capacity building focused on the following topics: • Use of Climate Data Tool (CDT) for data organization, quality control, merging of different datasets, data analysis, and visualization; • Introduction to IRI’s Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT); and • Use of IRI’s Next Generation (NextGen) seasonal forecast system for seasonal rainfall forecast

A coupled mobile based climate and crop pest information system: the e-AgriMet extension

There is big interest of having an integrated system for disseminating and communicating climate and pest information for early warning and decision making. AGRHYMET RCC/WAS e-AgriMet mobile Application, initially dedicated to Agro-Hydro-Climatic information dissemination, could also integrate other key risks that impact agriculture in the West Africa region, such as crop pest and diseases. The e-AgriMet Application is an open source development tool that can integrate other aspects or additional modules. The AICCRA projects offer an opportunity to work on integrating phytosanitary aspects and solving other gaps of the e-AgriMet mobile application by capitalizing existing achievements

Towards a new approach for Seasonal Climate Forecasting in West Africa

West African Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOF) help end-users minimize climate-related risks and maximize benefits in different sectors. However, the current RCOF process or approach for generating climate information is subject to some shortcomings. To improve seasonal forecasting in West Africa, it is suggested that advances in computer technology, improved climate models, and the availability of products from several global climate centers be leveraged to develop an objective integrated seasonal forecasting process that will serve as a reference for the West African RCOF

Strengthening flood and drought risk management tools for the Lake Chad Basin

Lake Chad is extremely sensitive to climate variability because it is a shallow inland lake, and about 97.5% of its water supply depends on the Chari-Logone River System and other tributaries. Any increase or decrease in lake volume inflow means a substantial increase or decrease in lake area. Droughts in the Sahel Region and within the basin after the 1970s had great impact on discharges of different tributaries, which led to a drastic decrease of water inflow in the lake, as well as significant seasonal and inter-annual variation of the lake area over the last 50 years. Information gaps about the water system and uncertainties about climate variability and change remain a challenge. Hydrological extremes, both floods and droughts, present a threat to agriculture and water resource management within the Lake Chad Basin. Drought and flood monitoring over the basin is difficult because of the shortage of observational data, both historic and in real time. Satellite remote sensing and hydrological modelling are techniques used to compensate for the data collection shortcomings of the region. The Africa Flood and Drought Monitoring (AFDM) provides drought and flood monitoring, and short-term and seasonal forecasting that combine climate prediction, hydrological modelling and remote sensing data in the sub-Saharan African continent. For the Lake Chad Region, the system was adapted with higher resolution to provide near-real-time water levels, as well as short-term forecast of flood risks, as well as medium-term forecasts of drought hazards and long-term projections of climate change impacts. Preliminary results are very encouraging; the system will continue to be updated, tested and validated to enable its operational use by decision-makers at all levels.</p