52nd Greater Horn of Africa climate outlook forum

Introduction

The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), in collaboration with the National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), are jointly organizing the Fifty Second Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook (GHACOF 52), to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 27 to 28 May 2019. It will be held within the framework of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regional strategy for mainstreaming climate information in key socio-economic sectors for sustainable development. Its theme will be “Mitigation of climate risks for resilience building”.

The forum will bring together climate scientists, researchers, users from key socio-economic sectors, governmental and non-governmental organizations, development partners, decision makers, and civil society stakeholders among others. Several user specific workshops will be organized during the forum, including some covering agriculture and food security, livestock, water resources, energy, health, and disaster risk management. The forum will be preceded by a capacity building training workshop for climate experts from the NMHSs of the ICPAC Member States to be held at ICPAC, Nairobi, Kenya from 20 to 25 May 2019.

Objectives

• Review lessons/experiences from the use of the products provided during GHACOF 51.
• Follow up on the implementation of proposed mitigation measures proposed in GHACOF 51.
• Develop a consensus regional climate outlook for the June to September 2019 season.
• Formulate mitigation strategies for key socio-economic sectors in the GHA region based on the seasonal forecast.
• Provide a regional interaction platform for decision makers, climate scientists, research scientists as well as users of climate information. 

Stakeholders and partners

The key stakeholders include the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), namely: Institut Géographique du Burundi, Agence National de la Météorologie de Djibouti, Eritrea Meteorological Service, National Meteorological Services Agency of Ethiopia, Kenya Meteorological Department, Rwanda Meteorological Agency, Somalia Meteorological Service, South Sudan Meteorological Service, Sudan Meteorological Authority, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, Uganda National Meteorological Authority, and international partner organizations such as WMO, African Development Bank, WMO Global Producing Centres of long-range forecasts and World Bank, among others.

The working language for the forum will be English. Participants are expected to sponsor themselves. However, there will be limited sponsorship for some needy cases. The conference package will be covered by ICPAC for all participants.