The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat through the Climate Services Centre (CSC), in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología e Geofísica (INAMET) of Angola, convened the Intra ACP Climate Services and Related Applications Programme (ClimSA) Focus Country Event in Luanda, Republic of Angola from 8th to 13th May 2023.
The objectives of the event were to: conduct the first stakeholder and climate services mapping exercise for the SADC ClimSA regional Focus Country, which is Angola; establish engagement processes with national stakeholders; commence ClimSA technical implementation in the Focus Country and deliver data sharing capacity-building in collaboration with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) which is one of ClimSA’s technical partners.
The ClimSA Programme takes place within the framework of an existing Financing Agreement between the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group of States (led by the ACP Secretariat) and the European Union (EU) through its 11th European Development Fund - Strategy Paper and Indicative Programme (2014-2020) for the ACP regional organizations/institutions and countries.
In his opening remarks Hon. Mr.Mário Augusto Da Silva Oliveira, Minister of Telecommunications, and Information Technology of the Republic of Angola underscored that ClimSA is an important initiative which will strengthen the climate services value chain; to empower Member States to enhance user access to climate information through generation and engagement with users through the established national user interface platforms (UIPs) to foster ownership and utilization of climate products and services.
He reiterated Angola’s commitment to the implementation of the ClimSA programme as the Focus Country and further thanked the Secretariat for the provision of equipment and pointed out that this project will benefit not just Angola but the entire SADC Region.
On her part, Ms. Mapolao Rosemary Mokoena, Director of Infrastructure at SADC Secretariat, speaking on behalf of the Executive Secretary, highlighted that the adverse impacts of climate change pose major challenges to socio economic development globally and within region. She said the region is highly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, which includes amongst others; water scarcity, food insecurity, reduced hydro-power generation potential, and destruction of infrastructure leading to high cost for disaster management because of increased intensity and frequency of climate extreme events such as droughts and extreme weather events such as floods, landslides and tropical cyclones.
The Director of Infrastructure further indicated that SADC has incorporated the climate issues in regional integration strategies such as the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030 to address adverse impacts of extreme events and climate-related challenges faced by Member States.
For his part, Professor Joseph Itela Y’ilondo, Director of National Agency of Meteorology and Tele detection by Satellite (METTELSAT) and Permanent Representative of Democratic Republic of Congo to the WMO, who is also the representative of the Chair of SADC, acknowledged that the negative impacts from extreme weather events associated with climate change have long been identified and thus several interventions have been planned to improve the effectiveness for provision of climate services across the region.
He observed that Member States lying on the eastern side of the region including Island States, are prone to tropical cyclones which cause immeasurable damage to infrastructure and disruption of livelihoods within the affected areas. He added that the western side of the sub-region has in recent past experienced recurrent severe droughts and floods, resulting in damages to property and disruption to livelihoods.
The SADC ClimSA programme aims to contribute to the efforts of SADC Member States countries to adapt to climate change and climate variability by providing climate prediction and information services into national and regional planning processes.
