About ACMAD
Who
The African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) was created in 1985 by UNECA Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance for the purpose of acting as the continental weather/climate watch and the excellence centre on the applications of meteorology for development.
How
ACMAD provides products, information, knowledge, advices, methods and tools, competencies and capabilities contributing to the implementation of agenda 2063 of the African Union; the African Strategies on Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and relevant Sustainable Development Goals with emphasis on Goal#13 on combating climate change. ACMAD enables NMHSs to benefit from funded programs through continental projects with NMHSs as the main target group.
What
This continental centre enables provision of weather/climate monitoring, forecasts and regional early warning on drought, tropical cyclones and other extreme weather/climate events.
It builds capacity, develops methods and tools, strengthens Africa’s contribution to global weather and climate programs, establishes and shares databases and undertakes research in meteorology.
Why
Weather and climate events has been identified as the most likely and impactful hazards on global economy and society. The economic impacts of recent droughts in Africa (i.e 2015) have reached 2% of Gross Domestic Product in some African countries reducing by half hydropower production.
National Meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs) lacks capacity to better prepare and deliver information required to increase resilience to disasters and adapt to climate change.
ACMAD is requested to build capacity of NMHSs and Regional centers to provide weather and climate services to reduce disaster impacts. It provides continental scale forecasts, advices and warnings to the African Union, Regional Economic Communities and humanitarian organization for contingency plans update and implementation.
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