Hundreds of thousands of lives, and livelihoods, are threatened and
lost every year in Africa due to the impacts of climate variability and
severe weather conditions. Some, if not most, of such losses could be
avoided if populations had access to reliable, timely localised weather
information.
WMO, through its network of National Meteorological and
Hydrological Services around the world, is working to improve this
situation. With support from the Norwegian Government and the World
Bank, the WMO Mobile Weather Alert project pilots the dissemination of
weather and climate information directly to end-users in Uganda.
The WMO Mobile Weather Alert pilot projects launched in Uganda
have two components, one targeting farmers, the other fishermen on Lake
Victoria. Both emphasize the importance of continuous interactions
between service providers and end-users. To be relevant, it is essential
that service provider understand the real, on-the-ground, needs of
end-users and are certain that those users understand the meteorological
information that will be sent to them and can use it to make sound
decisions.
The pilot projects take advantage of the widespread
availability of mobile phones. Over the past decade Africa has
experienced an incredible boom in mobile phone use. According to
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Africa has had the fastest
expanding mobile telephone market – growing at twice the rate of the
global market – over the last five years.
The new issue of WMO’s Bulletin examines the Mobile Weather Alert projects
Pilot project for Ugandan farmers
Fishermen on Lake Victoria
- WMO
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