Govt backs initiatives aimed at boosting climate services

Dar es Salaam. The government has said it is committed to supporting the implementation of various initiatives that facilitate the development and effective delivery of climate services.

Speaking at the launch of the National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the deputy minister of Labour, Youth, Employment and the disabled, Mr Anthony Mavunde, said due the challenges that the country was facing the government was ready to support the implementation of the new framework.

"We are ready to support this framework for the sake of our various sectors such as agriculture and fisheries," he said.

Mr Mavunde also said there was a need for the government and other stakeholders to continue facilitating coordination at the national level to ensure climate services were authoritative, credible, dependable and were used to inform better decision -making by the end users.

"This NFCS will enhance involvement of key national institutions in collecting and compiling climate observations and other climate-related datasets, institutions undertaking relevant research, and provide tailored information products and expert advice,” he said.

He said it was high time for the country to create a culture where people followed and used weather information to tackle the challenges better.

For her part,the director general of Tanzania Metrological Agency (TMA) Agnes Kijazi said the framework would be a proactive body in identifying user needs and helping the National Climate Services (NCS) to take fewer initiatives in reading out to the users and rather responding to users who approached it.

"The framework seeks to enhance provision of access to quality-controlled national climate to users about the use of these climate data that will be provided,” she said.

She further said that given the country's move towards the industrial economy, it was necessary for the government to come up with the framework.

In implementing the global requirements, this framework will be part of the actions by the government to support the regional and global initiatives.

"As part of our response to the global needs, this framework provides a means for users, climate researchers and climate service providers to interact nationally to maximise the usefulness of climate services as well as helping to develop new and improved applications of climate information," she said.

The NFCS started being formulated in 2014 under sponsorship from Norway in collaboration with World Metrological Organisation and involved various stakeholders.