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Elements of the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas will be expanded into SADC countries.
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SADC representatives at the 13th Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) conference held in Harare, Zimbabwe. View enlarged version
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Emma Archer, Claire Davis, Rebecca Maserumule and Mark Tadross
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) received funds from USAID, via the Department of Science and Technology (DST), earlier in the fiscal year to fund efforts to expand elements of the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas into Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.
Given South Africa's leadership role in the SADC region and the fact that climatic phenomena occur across national borders, this is a natural move and well within the goals of the DST. The South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas is a DST initiative focused on creating a framework to facilitate the transfer of scientific information to stakeholders in local and municipal governments for the purpose of supporting decisions and improving resilience.
Members of the Atlas team visited Zimbabwe recently to introduce representatives of the climate community of SADC to the aims and goals of the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas, as well as to solicit advice on ways to extend the information located in the Atlas at a SADC level.
The team decided to use existing structures such as the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) conference, which is now in its thirteenth year, to ensure that high-level buy-in will occur early on in the outreach process. A presentation on the Atlas was given during one of the sessions. The team in attendance were Dr Emma Archer, Dr Rebecca Maserumule and Claire Davis of CSIR and Dr Mark Tadross of the Climate Systems Analysis Group, University of Cape Town, the partner institution on the SADC initiative.
Prior to SARCOF-13, a climate expert meeting was held to develop a consensus seasonal climate outlook for the upcoming rainy season. The experts also reviewed the October 2008 to March 2009 rainy season over SADC to assess the accuracy of last year's seasonal forecast.
One of the challenges faced by SARCOF in general is the transformation of the rainy season information to ensure the proper application across various socio-economic decision-making processes. The seasonal forecast has implications for improving food security, health, disaster risk management, water resources and hydropower management in the SADC region.
The focus of SARCOF-13 was the illustration of existing initiatives and projects that apply climate prediction information for sustainable socio-economic development and disaster risk reduction. The attendees at the conference ranged from information providers (mostly the meteorological organisations in the respective SADC countries) and user community (representatives from the World Health Organisation, NGOs and the media, to name a few).
One of the concerns expressed by information receivers was the lack of clarity in the information received. Large gaps exist between the information received and its utility in supporting decisions.
It is important to note that the SARVA project is a result of the same frustrations expressed by government in South Africa and while it is a daunting task to bridge such a gap, the benefits will definitely outweigh the efforts.
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