Understanding Seasonal Forecasts in Africa: Q&A With Climate Scientists
Seasonal forecasts are key for resilience. They allow us to plan early and reduce the impacts of extreme weather events, increasingly frequent under a changing climate.
This webinar aims at demystifying Seasonal forecasts by allowing participants to submit any type of question they might have associated with seasonal forecasting. Why are seasonal forecasts important? How should we use them? Are they reliable? Are they used widely for planning in Africa?
The discussion will be moderated by Diana Njeru from BBC Media Action and the panel will feature three speakers.
This Webinar is part of a series of Webinars organized by EU Horizon2020 projects, namely DOWN2EARTH, CONFER and FOCUS-AFRICA. This Webinar series aims to improve understanding and engagement with climate services in Africa.
Panelists
Diana Njeru
Project Director BBC Media Action BBC Media Actionmoderator
Diana Njeru is a development professional with 10 years’ experience managing projects that use media and communication to help reduce poverty, improve health, save lives and support people in understanding their rights. She is currently the Project Director at BBC Media Action, where she manages climate change projects that train local media to provide life-saving information to communities affected by climate change. She has a BA in Political Science.
Diana is also passionate about development photography and uses photography to communicate the human condition, bring attention to social injustice, promote cultural understanding and encourage positive change.
Maurine Ambani
Regional Coordinator for Forecast based Financing (FbF) in Eastern Africa World Food Programmediscussant
Maurine Ambani has over 10 years’ experience on developing Climate Services in Africa, towards targeted use of weather and climate information in adaptive decision making and anticipatory action. She works extensively to facilitate linkages and dialogue between scientists, technical experts in various fields, operational teams and communities. Maurine currently serves as the WFP Regional Coordinator for Forecast based Financing (FbF) in Eastern Africa, supporting countries in the region to implement the FbF approach.
Teferi Dejene Demissie
Senior researcher NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, Norway NORCEdiscussant
Teferi Demissie is a senior climate researcher at NORCE and CCAFS East Africa. He has expertise on African climate and climate modeling with a particular focus on investigating local and remote mechanisms responsible for the climate variability in East Africa. Demissie has extensive experience working with the National Meteorological Services of East Africa. He is currently working on the Horizon 2020 project CONFER, and other projects in Africa funded from NFR and NORAD. He has a PhD in Atmospheric Physics and Dynamics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Roberto Buizza
Focus Africadiscussant
Roberto Buizza has a degree in Physics, a PhD in Mathematics, and a Master in Business Administration. After 4 years at the ‘Centro di Ricerca Termica e Nucleare’ of the Electricity Board of Italy (CRTN/ENEL), in 1991 he joined the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, where he had been a key developer of its prediction systems, and served as Head of the Predictability Division and Lead Scientist. In November 2018 he joined ‘Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna’ of Pisa, as Full Professor in Physics, where he has established a new initiative on climate with the support also Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, and Istituto Studi Superiori Scuola IUSS of Pavia. Expert in numerical weather prediction, Eart-system modelling, ensemble methods and predictability, he has more than 230 publications, of which 115 in the peer-reviewed literature.
Acknowledgements
