Climate information services, consisting of generation, packaging and delivery of weather and climate data and its subsequent uptake, are critical to support climate adaptation and resilient development. Such information can describe historical, current and future weather and climate conditions and can provide future predictions on daily, monthly, seasonal or decadal timescales and projections at multi-decadal and centennial scales. The climate information services also takes into consideration their impact on natural and human systems.

In Africa, the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) are the traditional climate information services developers and providers, whose activities are supported by a network of weather stations taking measurements of, among other parameters, precipitation and temperature under the guidance of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). As there are various types of climate information services, there are also various types of providers ranging from national institutes to regional research centres, together with consultancy firms, national associations, insurance companies and the private sector.

Climate information services providers do not necessarily generate their own weather and climate data. They can make use of available data from other owners or providers and add value (knowledge and expertise) to develop and supply the information needed by specific users. The data needed to monitor and predict weather and climate, to develop tools and generate products under the framework of the climate information services, are mostly owned by NMHSs. In addition, the monitoring and forecasting of severe weather events (that is, extreme events such as tropical cyclones, mesoscale convective systems and droughts) and the development of tools require data beyond national boundaries, as explored in the 2014 report by WMO, cited previously. Lastly, research centres and the private sector have the opportunity to develop tools and add substantial value to the data generated by NMHSs. Data sharing standards and procedures should be developed to regulate the exchange of data between countries, regional research centres and non-governmental organizations. To this end, the Twelfth Congress of the World Meteorological Organization, in its resolution 40 (Cg-XII) on WMO policy and practice for the exchange of meteorological and related data and products including guidelines on relationships in commercial meteorological activities, adopted policy and practices on the international exchange of meteorological and related data and products.

Resolution 40 secures the free and unrestricted international exchange of meteorological and climate data to permit all members to generate forecasts and warnings for the provision of services. As members are defined as countries, the resolution applies to NMHSs and to national and intergovernmental weather networks. In addition, the resolution acknowledges the importance of sharing data as a key to understanding climate, studying extreme climate and severe weather events, providing early warning and, in general, helping communities to adapt to climate change by providing climate services. Furthermore, resolution 40 highlights the dependence of the research and education communities (many of which provide climate services) on having access to meteorological and related data and products. It also highlights the existence of a trend towards the initiation and increase of the commercial activities of many NMHSs and the private sector.

The African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), through the Weather Information and Climate Services (WISER) project, funded by the pan-African component of the Department for International Development, reviewed the application of WMO resolution 40 in the African context to support climate information services development for sustainable climate change adaptation and resilient development on the continent.

Objective

The overall objective of the Expert Group Meeting is to review a document on the application of hydro-meteorological (including climate) data sharing standards and procedures in Africa, based on WMO resolution 40, to facilitate climate information services production, uptake and use on the continent. The specific objectives of the meeting are to:

• Review current practices of data exchange under WMO resolution 40 in the context of climate information services uptake and use in development planning;
• Identify challenges to data sharing and provide recommendations on data sharing to promote the use of hydro-meteorological data in supporting climate information services uptake on the African continent;
• Understand the current data sharing practices in use at NHMSs and regional climate centres;
• Find areas that could be used to improve WMO resolution 40.

Output

• A comprehensive report on the extent of use, challenges and practices in the application of WMO resolution 40 in hydro-meteorological and climate data sharing in Africa.

Tentative agenda

Expert Group Meeting on validating a study on the application of meteorological and climate data sharing policy in Africa

Documents

Concept Note

Presentations

Climate Information Services (CIS) innovations in Africa - Bruk Tekie

Data sharing experience & practices in GHA Region - Ismael Lutta Mulama

Expert Group Meeting Experience of SADC Climate Services Centre on data sharing - Faka Nsadisa  and Sunshine Gamedze

Data Sharing Policy Between AGRHYMET and the NMHSs of CILSS member countries - Seydou B. TRAORE

Data sharing practices, experiences, challenges and opportunities at ACMAD - Benjamin L. Lamptey

Weather Data Sharing A chance for Foresight - James Ngoma

Review of meteorological or climate data sharing policy (WMO Resolution 40) to promote their use to support CIS uptake in the African continent - Mouhamadou Bamba SYLLA