Climate services expanded to play a bigger role in Sudan

A delegate from the Meteorological Office of the United Kingdom (UK Met Office), John Faragher, Senior International Development Manager visited Sudan from the 8th to 12th October. This visit was organised by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme in Sudan. The purpose of the visit was to scope out the potential of developing a strategic partnership with relevant government stakeholders, UN agencies, and the private sector to further the co-operation in the priority areas of weather forecasting and climate modelling and provide technical support to the Government of Sudan through ‘Adapt for Environment and Climate Resilience Project’ (ADAPT!).

John Faragher, Senior International Development Manager at the Met Office, said: “The world is impacted by a changing climate, and many people, including those in Africa, are on the front line. Without doubt, we will be facing more climate shocks through extreme weather events. Improving forecasting and modelling can help make all of us more resilient in the future and will help us meet these challenges. This can only be achieved by working in partnership, sharing skills, knowledge, data and technology.”

In order to address and reduce the risk that climate change and variability may pose to fragile areas in Sudan, policymakers and practitioners must be able to access, understand and use information and data on the local, national and global climate.  In this respect, UN Environment, DFID, the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Sudan Meteorological Authority, and the UK Met Office held a workshop on “Sahel Rainfall Trend Analysis” on 9 October at the British Embassy in Khartoum. The workshop participants discussed the latest research on Sahel rainfall trends and introduced climate modelling techniques from the Met Office. Further meetings were held with UN agencies and the private sector to assess their needs in relation to climate services.

Dr Ahmed Mohamed Abdelkarim, Director General of the Sudan Meteorological Authority (SMA), said: “The support of regional and international organizations in capacity development and infrastructure improvement has contributed to the enhancement of SMA capabilities and performance to deliver high quality of climate service. We are ambitious to further build a strategic partnership with UK Met Office aimed at improving our capacity and capability to produce user-centered climate services, medium- and long-term climate predictions, and climate change scenarios for adaptation and mitigation projects in Sudan”.

Atila Uras, UN Environment's Sudan Country Programme Manager, stated: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlighted the importance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, which would require ‘rapid and far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society’. This strategic partnership between UN Environment, DFID, the Sudan Meteorological Authority, and the UK Met Office will improve climate change mitigation and disaster preparedness strategies”.

The UK Met Office hopes to explore potential areas of strategic collaboration and the feasibility of piloting a medium-term (2 to 5 years) weather forecasting and climate models in Sudan, working with Sudan’s Meteorological Authority, UN Environment and a broader network of partners to support climate change mitigation efforts. UN Environment will continue to support more sustainable national development paths through effective climate policies for the benefit of future generations.