The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank have completed a seminar on improving the hydrological and meteorological systems in Africa.These are systems for capturing weather and climate data and disseminating information to users for decision support development planning. Coming under the auspices of the recently launched ClimDev-Special Fund (CDSF), the AfDB hosted the World Bank team consisting of Vladimir Tsirkunov and Makoto Suwa from the Hydromet Program at the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). During discussions chaired by Alex Rugamba, AfDB Director of the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department, the teams noted that hydrometeorological services were critical in providing vital information to support economic development and build resilience to climate change in many sectors on the continent. Sectors and areas in direct need of these services include disaster risk reduction and management, water, agriculture, transport, energy, public health, climate change adaptation and aviation safety and security. Unfortunately, less than 20% of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) are currently providing adequate services for decision-making and development planning, mainly due to weak institutional capacity, degraded infrastructure and inadequate service delivery.
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