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G
overnance
and
P
olicy
ers with an interest in issues related to climate variability and
change, such as the University of Zambia.
Also important is the dissemination of weather and climate infor-
mation at a regional level, for example, in the Southern Province.
The Southern Province is of particular interest because, on one
hand, it is the breadbasket of Zambia and, on the other, it is the
region that is most vulnerable to the adverse effects of drought and
occasional flooding. Local weather and climate information, such
as the existing 10-day Crop Bulletin, is essential for agricultural
planning purposes. A website for weather and climate information
at a regional level will be set up as a pilot project, and is expected to
markedly increase the level of information dissemination, especially
if it can also provide translations into local languages and infor-
mation about farming practices suitable for the forecasted weather
conditions.
In addition to these current programmes, from 1997 to 2000
DMI was part of the Danish International Development Agency
project: Water Resources Information Systems (WRIS) in Ghana,
in collaboration with the country’s Meteorological Services
Department (MSD). The aim of the WRIS project was to rehabili-
tate the hydrometeorological and other meteorological information
produced by MSD. In addition to the station network and data
handling, the project also focused on public relations.
The latter improved awareness of MSD and its services
in Ghana.
In the period 2006-2007, DMI took part in a
research project called Sustainable Resource Use
or Imminent Collapse? Livelihood and Production
in the Southwest Pacific (CLIP). The goal of
CLIP, which was coordinated by the University of
Copenhagen and supported by several private funds,
was to investigate how small isolated societies in
developing countries such as the Solomon Islands
cope with the modern problems of globalization
and global change. The issue of climate change was
considered in the project, since the Solomon Islands
are likely to be increasingly vulnerable to changes in
climate and related impacts, such as increasing sea
level, the acidification of the ocean and changes in
severe weather and climate events.
All of the above projects have capacity building as a
common goal and give developing countries the best
possible knowledge of future climate problems and
possibilities through scientific cooperation and alliances.
Victoria Falls and Victoria Bridge seen from helicopter
Image: John Cappelen