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Dr James Kinyangi of the African Development Bank, head of the climate and development Africa special fund, and fellow climate scientist Laban Ogallo, and Dr James Kinyangi (right) head of the African Development Bank's climate and development Africa special fund, speak about predicting Africa’s climate patterns. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Not Enough Good Information About Africa’s Climate for Adaptation

By Isaiah EsipisuReprint | |

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In this edition of Voices from the Global South Dr James Kinyangi head of the African Development Bank's climate and development Africa special fund, and fellow climate scientist Laban Ogallo, a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Nairobi and an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, chat to IPS correspondent Isaiah Esipisu about local solutions that can help the fight against climate change.

ADDIS ABABA, Sep 20 2019 (IPS) - “We don’t have a good appreciation of our local weather systems,” says Dr James Kinyangi head of the African Development Bank’s climate and development Africa special fund, which supports investments in climate and weather observations networks in Africa.

“If you go to the United States you can track storm systems that are moving all along the West Coast in California, the Artic cold air masses that are coming in and you are able to predict what’s states are going to be affected by what level of snowfall, using their modelling, using their data systems and using their observation networks,” Kinyangi explains.

Dr James Kinyangi of the African Development Bank, head of the climate and development Africa special fund, and fellow climate scientist Laban Ogallo, and Dr James Kinyangi (right) head of the African Development Bank’s climate and development Africa special fund, speak about predicting Africa’s climate patterns. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

He points out that Africa’s weather systems are more diverse. “What’s happening along the coast of Cape Town in South Africa is completely different from what’s going to happen along the coast of Somalia in the Great Horn of Africa,” he states.

Given the variation in the weather systems and the local weather, the science of observation and data is critical in helping develop more widespread applications for people, communities, governments and regions in order for them to make decisions, Kinyangi says.

Kinyangi and fellow climate scientist Laban Ogallo, a Professor of Meteorology at the University of Nairobi and an author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, chat to IPS correspondent Isaiah Esipisu about local solutions that can help the fight against climate change.