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Project team members, Claire Davis from the CSIR and Tracy Cull and Katharine Vincent from Kulima Integrated Development Solutions attended the fourteen Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) conference held in Harare, Zimbabwe in August 2010. This year's SARCOF was titled Seasonal Climate Prediction, A Strategic Planning Tool in Sustainable Socio-economic Development.
The audience comprised National Hydrological and Hydrometeorological Services from Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, DRC, Swaziland and Mauritius, and representatives of the user community from the University of Zimbabwe, WFP, OCHA, FEWSNet, SADC RVAA PMU, Save the Children, and Zestco - a Zambian private sector water manager.
Session 1 was entitled "climate applications for sustainable socio-economic development", and comprised a presentation from OCHA on "climate information and flood contingency planning in southern Africa: gaps, challenges and opportunities" (Elias Mabaso), one from UNISDR on "identification and assessment of disaster risks for the SADC region" (Yoko Hamimoto), one from CSIR on "Climate change and vulnerability planning in the SADC region, the Risk and Vulnerability Atlas and the proposed SADC version" (Claire Davis), and one from OneWorld "the southern African Regional Climate Change Programme - an update" (John Notoane).
Session 2 reviewed the 2009/2010 rainfall season. Session 3 was entitled "Dissemination strategies of the climate outlook and application of climate forecasts" and included a presentation by Tinago Chikoto from OCHA on the RIACSO consultation and Claire Davis spoke about the process of engaging stakeholders in the K2C project. The 2010/2011 climate outlooks were then presented in Session 4.
Some of the recommendations from this SARCOF:
1. Constitute a user community task team
2. Tropical cyclones need to be included in SARCOF-15
3. Session on climate change in SARCOF-15
4. Incorporate the recommendations from RIACSO
5. Fuse SARCOF with local knowledge
6. Encourage the use of different predictors and tools for forecasting
7. Amplify and strengthen the forum around DDR
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