|
|
Meteorological monitoring improvement needed for development
in Africa – UN official
Accra, April 3, Ghanadot/GNA - Given
Africa’s vulnerability to climate change, variability and
extreme weather events, better meteorological services are
crucial for its development and the struggle against
poverty, the head of the United Nations World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday.
“African National Meteorological and Hydrological Services
must be seen as actors of development,” Michel Jarraud, the
WMO Secretary-General, told a conference of finance and
economy meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the aegis of
the African Union (AU).
“They have an important role to play in regional and
international action plans, particularly with regard to
evaluating and monitoring the environment, preparing for
natural hazards, agricultural production, water resources
and, particularly, climate change,” Mr. Jarraud said,
according to a statement issued in Accra on Thursday by the
UN Information Centre in Accra.
Many African countries were among the world’s least
developed and consequently were the most susceptible to
threats posed by meteorological and hydrological disasters,
such as drought, flooding, cyclones, dust storms and other
extreme weather events, the WMO said in a press release.
In February, for example, Cyclone Ivan caused catastrophic
floods in Mozambique and Madagascar, resulting in enormous
losses in human life, agricultural production and property.
Drought has plagued many countries across sub-Saharan
Africa, causing water shortages and damaging crops and
threatening food security.
“But if more is invested in developing the observational
capacities of their national meteorological and hydrological
services, improved weather forecasts, improved early
warnings of imminent natural hazards and climate change can
be made available to decision-makers and end-users,” the
agency said.
Mr. Jarraud said that at present, however, African
meteorological services were far from ideal to perform those
critical functions.
“Serious gaps still exist in observation networks, often due
to instrument and systems failure, as well as the high costs
of operation and maintenance,” he said, urging that African
leaders focus on fixing the problem.
“Leaders can promote this by investing in and developing
methods that can assess the socio-economic advantages of
national meteorological and hydrological weather services,”
he proposed.
GNA
|
