Eric Asuman, Acting Director General
GHANA METEOROLOGICAL Agency (GMet) has called for the intensification of impact-based forecasts (IBF) that inform the public of what the weather will do in order to save lives and livelihoods.
In a statement to commemorate World Meteorology Day (WMD), GMet said one in three people is still not adequately covered by early warning systems.
According to the agency, the World Meteorological Day is celebrated on March 23 every year to commemorate the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 1950.
The statement said this year’s celebration is on the theme: “Early Warning and Early Action” is to highlight and create awareness of people’s role in protecting the earth’s atmosphere as a result of climate change and increasing high impact weather events such as floods, droughts among others which are mostly influenced by human activities that impact lives and socio-economic development.
The WMO said weather, climate, and water extremes are becoming more frequent and intense in many parts of the world as a result of climate change, and Ghana is no exception.
The statement said Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (African-SWIFT) has embarked funds for a project to help build capacity of forecasters on IBF.
It indicated that the project is being implemented by GMet for early warning and informed decision making.
Additionally, GMet is collaborating with GIZ and Allianz to carry out the SAGABI project on “Developing Risk Management Approaches for Climate and Health Risks”.
The statement explained this would help in the preparedness, response and recovery of High Impact Weather which reflects this year’s WMD theme.
In addition, it said GMet is again partnering the Hydrological Service Department (HSD), National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and Ministry of Works and Housing to execute and implement a pilot the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID), which is expected to tackle early warning systems within the Greater Accra Assembly in its attempt to manage flood.
By Vincent Kubi