SARCOF-15 - Hands on DRR training using weather, climate and hydro information for contigency planning

Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), through the Climate Services Centre, is organizing the Fifteenth Southern Africa Region Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF-15). This will be followed by a Disaster Risk Reduction stakeholders training workshop, 29-30 August 2011.

The main objective of SARCOF-15 is to develop a consensus climate outlook for period October 2011 to March 2012 rainfall season for the SADC Member States. The forum will also discuss the potential impacts of the consensus seasonal climate outlook on other socio-economic sectors including disaster risk management, food security, health, water resources and hydropower management, among others. The forum will also review the October 2010 to March 2011 rainy season for the SADC region.

SARCOF-15 is a collaborative effort between the SADC Climate Services Centre, SADC DRR Unit, World Bank-GFDRR, World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), and other partners. The SARCOF-15 forecast dissemination workshop is preceded by a 10-day Climate Experts Capacity Building Workshop of SADC National Meteorological/Hydrological Services (NMHSs) only, for the purposes of developing the 2011/12 seasonal climate forecast.