Page 69 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

Deployment of Equipment to Member States
under 10th EDF supporting Intra-ACP-EU Partnership on
Building Resilience of African Nations and Communities to
Disasters caused by Natural Hazards.
T e objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity and
capability of all the 16 SADC Member States to generate and
disseminate climate information in a timely manner in response
to climate-induced disasters and reduce loss of lives and prop-
erty damage. T e project also aims to strengthen the capacity
to use numerical weather prediction models and regional cli-
mate models for seasonal climate forecast. It has three outcomes
as outlined below.
• Outcome 1: T e Core Capacities of SADC National Mete-
orological/Hydrological Services and the SADC Climate
Services Centre (CSC) are Improved to Meet the Needs of
Disaster Risk Management Agencies.
T e action mainly involves the improvement of me-
teorological infrastructure equipment for early warning
system in SADC Member States. In this regard, the project
plans to donate the following equipment to Member States:
40 automatic weather stations, 14 high performance com-
puting servers and two automatic Message Switching Sys-
tem. Once delivered and installed, these equipment will
improve data access, processing and monitoring of the
weather and climate system for timely early warning and
disaster mitigation.
• Outcome 2: Ef ective Integration of Regional Early Warn-
ing is Operationalised.
T e action in this component is the generation and
66 dissemination of extreme weather and climate information
services for disaster risk reduction. T e project has capac-
itated the SADC CSC to generate information and upload
daily, weekly and monthly weather and climate informa-
tion on its website for use by the dif erent stakeholders in
the region. T e SADC CSC also issued several advisories
on extreme weather events (such as cyclones, droughts,
heavy rains and f oods) to Member States.
In addition, the project has funded two annual South-
ern African Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) meetings
that brought together and interacted with experts from
various climate sensitive sectors to discuss seasonal climate
forecasts for rainfall seasons and early warning advisories
based on consensus regional forecasts generated by climate
experts from Member States. T e SARCOF advisories aim
to guide strategic planning to climate sensitive sectors and
enhanced preparedness & response to imminent hazards.
T e SADC CSC issued the SARCOF statements, extreme
weather alerts and drought advisories.
• Outcome 3: Competent Team of National/Regional Ex-
perts Trained to Respond to the Needs of National Disaster
Risk Management.
T e project conducted a series of capacity building activ-
ities in early warning at national and regional levels, includ-
ing seasonal climate forecasting techniques; information
technology administration for HPC servers; climate risk as-
Source: SADC Secretariat sessment; meso-scale forecasting for extreme weather events;
and climate modelling. About 80 experts from various cli-
mate sensitive sectors have so far been trained.
KEY
Southern African Regional Climate Services for Disaster
Resilience (SARCIS-DR)

SARCIS-DR Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs)
SARCIS-DR High Performance Computers (HPCs)
SARCIS-DR Automatic Message Switching Systems (AMSSs)