Africa's vulnerability to climate change

AllAfrica.com via the Citizen (Dar es Salaam): Climate variability is a major cause of concern to African countries because their economies are heavily depend on rain-fed agriculture. Addressing a high level segment of the Third World Climate Conference here yesterday, the Vice President, Dr Ali Mohammed Shein, urged for urgent measures to address problems facing Meteorological and hydrological services in Africa.

"Economies of most African countries, depend on rain-fed farming. We in Tanzania have recently reaffirmed the importance of agriculture in our social and economic development. In this regard, climate variability is a cause of concern to us," he said.

He added that availability of accurate, reliable and timely weather forecast and climate information to the stakeholders, would not only assist in national planning, but also prepare for natural calamities caused by extreme weather conditions like El Nino and La Nina.

"This underscores the vital role played by national meteorological and hydrological services to avert disasters by providing accurate, reliable and timely weather forecasts and climate information to users," he explained.

He warned that African countries have become more vulnerable in the wake of climate variability and change, hence what is now pertinent is to enhance adaptive capacity of those countries. "They include increasing the number of weather observing stations to effectively monitor the climate, promoting research and establishing weather and climate modelling," he pointed out.....

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