The rainfall in sub-Saharan Africa is inconsistent to say the least and this can have extreme and often disastrous effects on African society and economy because of people’s dependence on rain-fed agriculture.
However, work to improve the livelihoods of people living in the region has been hampered by uncertainty in weather forecasting and the lack of a joined-up process bringing scientists, communities and policymakers together.
The recurrent crises since 2010 have been a clear and ever-present demonstration of these barriers. Even as the 2010 East Africa crisis loosened its grip, another food security crisis unfolded in the Sahel region due, mainly, to a erratic and patchy 2011 West Africa rainy season.
How people adapt to these crises is absolutely crucial. It has never been more important, therefore, to address the huge disconnect between scientific research and the awareness of policymakers and communities about these outputs and how to use this knowledge.
This succinctly illustrates the challenge for AfClix (the Africa Climate Exchange), whose focus is to communicate weather and climate information that links and sustains local people. A key element is securing access to reliable and timely information to make informed decisions about how to absorb and mitigate impending shocks, and ultimately how people can thrive despite these shocks and long-term change.
AfClix is funded through a Natural Environment Research Council Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, with significant additional funding from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) - Climate Directorate, the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and The University of Reading and its Walker Institute for Climate System Research.
Different from other initiatives, it taps directly into the grass-roots science community that it has sprung from, connecting people and creating opportunities for cross-discipline, cross-continent collaborations.
Its single aim is to ensure that all climate-related policy decisions towards improving food security in sub-Saharan Africa can be made with access to the best-available scientific information.
Initially the programme was working in Senegal and Sudan. Lessons from these exchanges, detailed below, and other parallel activities are continuously applied in the context of AfClix to develop early-warning systems in Senegal and Sudan that, it is hoped, will be developed across the region.
Since its launch, AfClix activities have grown considerably and resulted in numerous cross-sector collaborations, of which these are just a few:
- In Sudan, AfClix is supporting the Sudanese Meteorological Society (SUMS) through providing a web space and ongoing connections. SUMS will hopefully become an important neutral point of contact for exchanges with Sudanese policymakers and NGOs.
- In Senegal, a number of pilot exchange activities have been co-ordinated by the Senegalese Red Cross, focusing on providing flood alerts to vulnerable communities, employing Red Cross community volunteers as climate information relays. The primary focus for AfClix-Senegal is to develop the pilot exchange work from a local to national level to help build stronger relationships between the Senegalese Met Service and the new Senegalese government.
- In Ghana, Dr Ben Lamptey, a lecturer at The University of Ghana, has been developing a project to assess the impact of climate change on hydroelectric power generation.
- In Niger, AfClix activities continue to unite researchers from very different areas, all with the common aim to move resilience from theory to reality and to enable policymakers to learn, adapt and respond to large-scale extreme events such as drought and flooding.
- In Kenya, AfClix has been involved in providing expertise for the Lorna Young Foundation as it seeks to extend to Uganda and Tanzania its successful weekly radio programme linking coffee farmers in Kenya to people with climate and agricultural expertise.
