Climate Exchange

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ommunities

that meteorologists and climate scientists need to maxi-

mize the relevance of forecast timings and ensure that

these are best able to support critical livelihood decision-

making processes. A number of the farmers participating

in the SALI project in Mbeere urged that the forecast for

the long rain season be issued by at latest mid-February

instead of early March, as this was too late for their main

pre-season decisions, while scientists are keen to ensure

that the forecast is informed by key climate factors influ-

encing the atmosphere, the timing of whichmay at present

prevent the meeting of farmers’ preferences. Developing

user-driver climate services requires the identification of

mechanisms which enable these communities to inform

both the process through which information is provided

and the focus of current and future climate research,

wherever relevant. In support of existing governmental

extension services, the humanitarian, DRR and develop-

ment communities can play a key role here. Working

through existing networks and partnerships, these organ-

izations provide conduits through which weather and

climate information can be disseminated and feedback

can be received about community concerns.

Stakeholder involvement

In Kenya, the exchange has supported a forum bringing

together the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD)

with service providers and extension workers from the

Government departments of livestock, agriculture, agri-

cultural research and cooperation, as well as marketing

expertise from the Traidcraft fair-trade organization, to

provide the integrated climate information relevant to

participating farmers’ groups in the drought-prone Mbeere

district. The exchange approach offers opportunities to

try out more relevant forms of communication and, for

example, initiated the provision of SMS forecast updates in

Kiswahili direct to participating farmers group in Mbeere.

In the future, there is scope to further develop the range of

sectoral and scientific expertise engaged to support other

types and levels of decision-making processes.

To develop relevant climate services, weather and climate infor-

mation needs to be:

• Contextualized within the multi-hazard environments in which

vulnerable communities live

• Integrated within all relevant sectors, including agriculture, health,

livestock, water and sanitation, infrastructure (including housing),

transport and marketing

• Considered within an integrated risk management approach, which

allows for consideration of combinations of risks and hazards

within communities, countries and regions as well as globally.

While recognizing the importance of developing a framework for

systematic use and response to weather and climate information across

humanitarian, DRR and development planning, it is just as vital to

develop channels for community decision-making to be directly informed

by weather and climate information. While international and national

governmental and non-governmental organizations may have funding

and other constraints preventing them from acting on uncertain infor-

mation, communities may still be able to take a number of appropriate

actions themselves if given access to relevant, timely information.

Efforts to support greater and more appropriate application

of forecasts also highlight the importance of strengthening the

scientific literacy of community and humanitarian users, as well

as extension services, about the levels of confidence and uncer-

tainties within the weather and climate information available at

different timeframes and across different regions. Efforts to build

understanding about the probabilistic nature of climate informa-

tion and the levels of reliability will build a body of ‘demanding

customers’ more confident and better able to ask ‘the right kind

of questions’. Better use of climate information also requires that

users receive the information in probabilistic rather than deter-

ministic formats. Exchange activities have found that those living

in multi-risk environments are used to taking decisions in situa-

tions of uncertainty. Participating farmers groups in Mbeere, for

example, eagerly took to probabilistic information once it had been

explained in straightforward terms with practical examples.

It is equally important to develop two-way channels for the develop-

ment of weather and climate information which is best able to support

the priority concerns of at-risk communities. It is, for example, clear

Farmers in Mbeere District, Kenya discuss the seasonal forecast results

Image: R. Ewbank, 2012