Climate services landscape in Eastern Africa: A survey of how, when and by whom is climate information used

Abstract

<p>The landscape of climate services development and implementation is rapidly evolving and expanding across sectors and countries in the Eastern Africa region. However, very little is known about the how, when, if and by whom the climate information is used. To address this gap, we deployed an online regional survey across 11 countries in Eastern Africa with a wide range of information producers and users, and a total of 629 responses were received. This provided us a snapshot of the state of climate services in the region including an understanding on the use of existing services across countries and sectors provided by regional and national meteorological centres, the improvements required to increase their uptake and use as well as the new services needed. Our findings further revealed an appetite for sector and country specific tailored services alongside enhancement (skill, resolution, and visualisation), timely delivery products, and access to specific existing services. We also found that regional, national, and sub-national climate outlook forums can be further improved to provide not only timely seasonal climate information but to serve as an interface where sector experts and service users can benefit from iterative interactions. Our paper identifies opportunities for improving existing climate information products and services, as perceived by information users. Importantly, we identify how different channels of communication could be leveraged for the successful provision of existing climate services. This research, while novel in its scope, is important for informing future climate services research and implementation in this complex region of global importance.</p>