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UK Met Office partnering with Africa Adaptation Programme to expand access and availability of climate data and information
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On April 29, the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) held its third Brown Bag Luncheon of 2011. The presentation showcased the collaboration developing between the UK Met Office and the Africa Adaptation Programme. “The UK Met Office is working closely with the AAP to provide robust data for the AAP countries’ adaptation planning,” said Gavin Iley, International Development Manager at the UK Met Office. The AAP will be utilizing several UK Met Office tools and resources as part of its climate data and information management component. These include the PRECIS Regional Modeling System, the Voluntary Cooperation Programme and the Climate Science Research Partnership. “These tools and resources can help to expand availability, access and understanding of climate data and information,” said Mr. Iley.
The UK Met Office is actively involved in a number of international programmes, projects and initiatives. The Met Office is also currently developing a tool called the Open Platform with the goal of expanding access and understanding of climate data and information, particularly to provide information to decision-makers and inform adaptation decisions. The Met Office is currently gathering information from a range of stakeholders as they develop a prototype of the Open Platform.
A key activity of the Inter-Regional Technical Support Component (IRTSC) of the AAP is to improve access to the best available data and information on climate variability and impacts to facilitate vulnerability assessments, long-term planning and selection of “win-win” and reversible adaptation options. UK Met Office, along with other partners will assist the AAP in meeting the objectives of this activity. This activity will support outcome 1 of the overall programme – introducing dynamic long-term planning mechanisms to manage the inherent uncertainties of climate change. The AAP is addressing the problem of the lack of current infrastructure (data, tools, institutions) in Africa for the generation of climate data and information through the development of an e-infrastructure for the AAP countries. This multi-tired e-infrastructure system will allow countries to access, store and process climate related data. Its user-friendly decision support tools are being used by climate scientists and planners to help advise decision-makers on appropriate actions to take. This approach is allowing for regional sharing of experiences, knowledge and best practices related to climate data and information.
AAP is a flagship programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), established in 2008 in partnership with UNIDO, UNICEF and WFP, and funded by a $92.1 million grant from the Government of Japan. The programme assists the governments of 20 African countries to promote integrated and comprehensive approaches to climate change adaptation. Specifically, AAP strengthens governments’ ability to identify unique climate risks and vulnerabilities and develop capacity to design and implement holistic climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies corresponding to national development priorities.
For more information on the Africa Adaptation Programme, please contact Ian Rector (ianr@unops.org) or visit www.undp-adaptation.org/africaprogramme/.
