…WMO: Weather, climate hazards caused more than $8.5 billion economic damages in 2022
By Seun Adams
The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD), the Agro-Hydro-Climatic Meteorology (AGRHYMET) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Monday commenced fresh perspective on producing a unified quality and reliable forecasts that would address emerging climate change disasters and vulnerabilities in Africa and across the world.
Speaking at the Regional Climate Outlook Forum of the Seasonal Forecasting of Agro-Hydro-Climatic characteristics of the Sahelian and Sudan Region of West Africa and Sahel (PRESASS 2024), in Abuja, the Director General/CEO of NiMet, Prof. Charles Anosike, acknowledged that accurate and qualitative forecast as is being advocated by the United Nations (UN) through its Early Warning System for All can protect lives and property against emerging climate disasters.
Anosike, said: This year’s meeting is timely because weather and climate events continue to take a toll on our region despite the tremendous advances and investments in climate science and operational forecasting over the past century.
“Weather-related hazards, including early/late onset of rainy seasons, droughts, floods and extended periods of extreme temperatures trigger and account for a greater proportion of disaster losses.
“It is, therefore, crucial that we ensure that our seasonal forecasting processes are reliable and validated to enable accurate and actionable prediction.
“We hope that the outcome of this 4-day exercise will provide our society with the necessary climate decision support to reduce the impact of climate disasters and boost productivity.”
The DG said NiMet’s 2024 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) in February, will continue to serve as an early warning tool to ensure improved preparedness for climate disasters, protect lives, and critical national assets toward sustainable economic development.
He commended AGRHYMET and ACMAD for sustaining the Regional Climate Outlook (PRESASS) from 1998 to date.
In his contribution, the WMO representative for North Africa, Central and West Africa, Dr. Bernard Gomez, who was represented by Mr. Roland Abah, said the development of Early Warning Systems to cover everyone on the planet with Early Warning Systems by 2027 is now a priority of the United Nations, adding that With the support of the African Union Commission and Partners, an Early Warning for All Action Plan has been developed for Africa as well.
Gomez, said: “On behalf of the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, I am delighted to be delivering this goodwill remark during the seasonal forecasting workshop for agro-hydro- climatic characteristics for the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of West Africa and the Sahel (PRESASS 2024).
“I wish to congratulate AGRHYMET for celebrating 50 years of providing climate and capacity development service to Sahelian and West African countries.
“Within the 50 years of existence of the AGRHYMET, we now have greater understanding of the climate risks in the Sahel and West Africa and how it affects food security and other associated climate-sensitive livelihood activities.”
According to him, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in these regions have also benefited immensely from forecast and training activities provided by AGRHYMET
However, he added that despite these great achievements, the impact of climate change continues to pose a huge threat to development in the Sahel, West Africa, and Africa.
Gomez, said: “The World Economic Forum in 2024 has ranked extreme weather as the highest current risk facing the global economy.
“Extreme weather is expected to remain the highest risk over the next 10 years together with critical change to Earth systems, Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse, and Natural resource shortages.
“The year 2023 was confirmed by WMO as the warmest on record and the past nine years, 2015 to 2023, were the warmest on record. This warming trend has continued in 2024 from January to March and we are all witnesses to the dynamics of temperature and humidity parameters in West Africa and the Sahel.
“The State of Climate in Africa report 2022, revealed that more than 110 million people on the African continent were directly affected by weather, climate, and water-related hazards in 2022, causing more than 8.5 billion dollars in economic damages.”
The WMO rep, added that to better coordinate exchange of Earth System Observation, Numerical Weather Prediction, and access to model products, WMO has migrated the Global Data Processing and Forecasting system (GDPFS) to the WMO Integrated Processing and Prediction System (WIPPS), WIPPS encompasses all systems operated by Members, including those jointly coordinated with other international organizations such as ICAO.
The shift from the GDPFS, according to him, is towards the implementation of increasingly sophisticated and diverse numerical models and applications to serve an ever-increasing variety of users. I encourage you to read about WIPPS from the WMO website.
Also speaking, the representative of the DG, AGRHYMET, Mr. Abdou Ali, said it is exciting that the various bodies are meeting as in previous years to develop and disseminate seasonal forecasts for West Africa and the Sahel, in particular for the Sahelian and Sudanian zones.
He said: “In 2022, we were, here, in Abuja for the same event, and now in 2024, we’re back in Nigeria. No other country has been able to organize the PRESASS so frequently, and this is an eloquent testimony of the confidence in the ability of NIMET to organize this important event with the necessary facilities.
“It is clear that at this very moment of the rainy season, all actors, including decision makers and farmers are awaiting with impatience for any information that will enable them to better plan the rainy season more effectively.”
He acknowledged that the event is held in a difficult context in the region where, according to the analyses by CILSS and its partners through the Harmonized Hamonise, that more than 50 million people will be in food crisis in the region during the upcoming lean season from June to August if appropriate measures are not taken.
He tasked the experts to put all effort during these three days of the Pre-forum to produce quality forecasts that meet the expectations of the stakeholders.
We have no doubt about that. Today, new methods, new tools and new data are available to reinforce the process. We will not fail to make maximum use of these opportunities.
AGRHYMET, he added will create all the conditions to enable taking benefit from these new opportunities and to strengthen the developments of high quality forecast particularly in the context of the operationalization of the regional climate center for West Africa and the Sahel.
CILSS and its partners are supported in this process by technical and financial partners such as USAID, the EU, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, notably through the PRASAR, CLIMSA,
Engr. Clement Nze, the CEO/DG of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) commended the efforts of all the stakeholders for producing a regional forecast through timely information for the management of our regional resources in a sustainable manner in the face of the realities of Climate Change and its attendant consequences.
He said: “Just last week, my Agency presented the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) for Nigeria: about 31 out of 36 states are expected to be flooded which calls for drastic early preventive actions to be taken.
“This effort, is a testament to our commitment to use scientific methods and processes to tackle Hydro-climatic challenges of this day and age. The PRESASS, when scaled down to national level often agrees with the predictions made, and serve as complementary tool for disaster risk management.
“I have been informed that about 20 countries are expected to participate in the workshop with experts drawn from respected regional bodies, with this I am sure the objective of the workshop would be realized and the regional forecast will help in building resilience to flooding, improve crop yield and minimize water related diseases.”
