The decision support system offers a range of features, including forecasts

The decision support system offers a range of features, including forecasts

In a groundbreaking initiative, researchers from the UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (INRA) have developed a decision support system that provides accessible climate data and forecasts for policymakers, farmers, and other stakeholders across West Africa.

At a dissemination workshop today 18th December 2024, Dr. Ferdinand Tornyie, a researcher on the project, explained that the project, known as LANDSURF project, has created a user-friendly web portal that simplifies complex climate information, allowing even non-scientists to interpret and utilize the data. “This portal was designed for them,” “It covers the whole of West Africa and is meant to provide quick decision-making support for policymakers, farmers, and others who depend on climate information for planning.”

A key aspect of the Landsurf project is its focus on integrating indigenous knowledge with scientific data. The team worked with a PhD fellow who studied how local communities have traditionally predicted weather patterns without modern technology. “There’s something special that scientists must get interested in to be able to tap into this indigenous knowledge and then use science to validate it,” said Dr. Tornyie.

He said, by blending traditional practices with rigorous climate modeling, the researchers aim to provide a more holistic understanding of the region’s weather patterns. This approach not only respects local expertise but also helps to identify areas where indigenous predictions may be failing due to the impacts of climate change.

The decision support system offers a range of features, including forecasts for rainfall, temperature, and wind speed. Farmers and fishermen can use this information to plan their activities, while extension officers can disseminate the data to local communities. “The system helps local people make informed decisions without waiting for climate events to occur,” Dr. Tornyie explained.

The project’s success hinges on its extensive stakeholder engagement. The researchers worked closely with local communities to ensure the system was tailored to their needs and easy to use. “It is for the locals.

“because we did this, it’s a stakeholder kind of thing that we took information, we had a lot of engagement to make this very suitable for them to use easily.”

By empowering West African communities with accessible climate data, the Landsurf project aims to help them adapt to the changing environment and mitigate the impacts of climate change. “We cannot do anything with by beating climate change if we don’t use data in science,”.

In the collaborative research project, scientists and small-scale farmers in Ghana have worked together to document and validate local climate indicators based on traditional wisdom. The “Land Safe” project, led by researcher Barbara Baidoo, aims to develop accessible climate models that can benefit students, stakeholders, and agricultural practitioners.

Barbra Baidoo, a research fellow with UNU and a PhD student at the University of Ghana, explains that the project focused on identifying the local climate parameters experienced by small-scale farmers in the country. “We want to know whether they have observed climate change, how they have survived over the years without having 100% access to climate models or climate simulations,” she says.

Through interviews and a validation workshop, the researchers were able to document the farmers’ traditional knowledge on predicting planting and growing seasons. Farmers shared their observations of plants, animals, and astrological indicators, such as the movement of clouds, the presence of certain birds or reptiles, and the patterns of the sun and moon.

“If a particular farmer identifies clouds gathering in the east, they know that it’s going to rain heavily, and so they must prepare their seedlings or probably start planting their seeds,” Baidoo explains.

The validation workshop brought together scientists from various fields, including the Animal and Biology Conservation Center and the African Institute, to confirm the reliability of the farmers’ indicators. While some indicators were deemed accurate, others were found to be influenced by anthropogenic factors like deforestation and pollution, rather than climate change.

Baidoo emphasizes the importance of this collaborative approach, stating, “We shouldn’t think that we are the only bearers of knowledge. People who are not researchers also have a good amount of knowledge that we can tap into.”

The project highlights the value of incorporating traditional knowledge into climate research and adaptation strategies. Baidoo recommends that farmers document and pass on their local knowledge, while also adopting scientific methods and technology to complement their traditional practices.

“By bringing them on board, right from the research, beginning of the research phase, it makes it easier for them to accept the recommendations or resolutions or solutions that we come up with, and it makes it easier for all of us to move on,” Baidoo concludes