Bank finances development of African observation centres to fight climate change.
The African Development Bank has unveiled a new support project in its continuing fight against the effects of climate change.
The initiative is designed to improve several of Africa’s ‘climate centres’, research organisations that track developments around climate change. The project could be worth as much as US$37mn and will run for the next two years.
Attempts to fight climate change on the continent have been undermined by the inability to produce required data and information due to the declining number of observation networks, limited technical expertise and poor presentation of information, the bank says.
The centres chosen for development are the African Centre for Meteorological Applications for Development, the Agro-meteorology and Hydrology Regional Centre, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre, the Drought Monitoring Centre and the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF).
“This [project] would significantly improve the accuracy of information related to weather forecasting and monitoring,” said David Rogers of the GHF. “Climate change alters weather patterns and this impacts heavily on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities. Without accurate weather forecasts farmers are unable to make informed decisions, such as when to seed and harvest their crops.”
Other beneficiaries of the project include scientists and the estimated 480mn people in 25 countries who depend on climate-sensitive sectors.
Reader Comments