The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) in collaboration with the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other international partners, will be hosting the Fifty-Third Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF 53). The Forum, themed “Early Warning for Early Action in Support of Climate Resilience”, will take place at Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from August 26-28, 2019.
It will be held within the framework of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional strategy for mainstreaming climate information in key socio-economic sectors for sustainable development. Key regional user-specific workshops including agriculture and food security, water resources, energy; health, marine and oceanography, media; conflict early warning and response mechanism (CEWARN) as well as disaster risk management, will be organised during the forum. The forum will bring together climate scientists, researchers, users from key socio-economic sectors, governmental and non-governmental organisations, development partners, decision-makers, and civil society stakeholders. among others.
The main objectives of GHACOF 53 will be to:
- Formulate mitigation strategies for key socio-economic sectors in the GHA region based on the consensus seasonal forecast;
- Follow up on the implementation of proposed mitigation measures proposed in GHACOF 52;
- Review lessons/experiences from the use of the products provided during GHACOF 52;
- Develop a consensus regional climate outlook for the October to December 2019 season; and
- Provide a regional interaction platform for decision-makers, climate scientists, research scientists as well as users of climate information.
The forum is open to all stakeholders including climate scientists, farmers, universities, research institutions and regional and international organisations engaged in climate prediction and applications, as well as users from various socio-economic sectors. Participants are expected to sponsor themselves. However, there will be limited sponsorship for exceptional cases of indigence. The conference package will be covered by ICPAC for all registered participants.
The key stakeholders and partners for GHACOF 53 include: the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), Institut Géographique du Burundi, Agence National de la Météorologie de Djibouti; Eritrea Meteorological Service, National Meteorological Services Agency of Ethiopia, Kenya’s Meteorological Department; Rwanda Meteorological Agency, Somalia Meteorological Service, South Sudan Meteorological Service; Sudan Meteorological Authority, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, Uganda National Meteorological Authority, as well as international partner organisations such as WMO, African Development Bank, World Bank, WISER, WMO Global Producing Centres of long-range forecasts and the World Bank, among others.
Since 1996, an innovative process known as the Regional Climate Outlook Forum (RCOF) has been running in many parts of the world, aimed at providing consensus seasonal climate outlook and guidance to reduce climate-related risks, in support of sustainable development efforts of the specific regions. RCOFs were initiated by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Climate Information and Prediction Services (CLIPS) project, in collaboration with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), regional institutions and other international organisations. The main goal of RCOFs is to provide consensus regional seasonal climate outlooks for applications in key socio-economic sectors, in support of resilience building for sustainable development. The first RCOF meeting was held in 1996 at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), as a regional climate centre, provides medium-range and extended climate forecasts that are required by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), and other national, regional and international partners. The Institution uses two techniques to provide climate outlooks, namely the dynamical and statistical forecast approaches, with the latter being derived from WMO Global Producing Centres, among others.
To learn more about the Conference, visit IGAD website.
