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THE third edition of the conference on climate change and development in Africa held in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, from October 21 to 23. It was organised by the African climate policy centre, ACPC, under the auspices of the climate for development in Africa, ClimDev-Africa Programme, with the theme: ‘Africa on the Rise: Can the Opportunities from Climate Change Spring the Continent to Transformative Development?’.

The three-day conference, co-hosted by the African Union, AU, and the World Meteorological Organization, WMO, addressed a variety of issues such as identifying current gaps and future needs in the provision of weather and climate services and the need for strong weather and climate services to reduce vulnerability and promote sustainable development in Africa. It also discussed a range of potential solutions through the implementation of the integrated African strategy on meteorology that can positively impact on the lives and livelihoods of African communities.

The side event at the conference further discussed the need for African political leadership to cooperate, strengthen and mainstream weather and climate services into the decision-making and development planning process in key sectors such as agriculture, water resources and transport. Also discussed was African continent’s weak adaptive capacity increases its exposure to climate change and limits its ability to benefit from advances in climate science. Besides, many national meteorological and hydrological services have limited resources.

The African ministerial conference on meteorology, AMCOMET, provides political support to strengthen national meteorological services to enable them to perform their mandate and thus contribute to transformative development in Africa. The integrated African strategy on meteorology developed under AMCOMET and endorsed by the African Union, positions weather and climate services as essential components in poverty alleviation, disaster risk management and sustainable development efforts.  The strategy is a key component in the implementation of the global framework for climate service, GFCS, in Africa to increase the provision of user-driven climate services, especially in the priority areas of food security, water management, disaster risk reduction and health.

Compiled by Vincent Nzemeke

— Nov. 4, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT