Regional Ministers approve draft decision of weather forecast centre

The Conference of Ministers in charge of Meteorology in Central Africa ended in Yaounde on a positive note.

The groundwork for the creation of a weather centre in Central Africa has been laid. Ministers in charge of Meteorology in the Central African Sub-region meeting in Yaounde on April 24, 2015, noted with satisfaction progress made to create a regional centre.

They deliberated on a draft project submitted by experts after meeting for three days. Though the Economic Community of Central African States, ECCAS and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa, CEMAC are the last in Africa to set up such a centre, the Ministers all agreed that its going operational may delay, but will soon be done.

Friday’s deliberations were chaired by Cameroon’s Minister of Transport, Robert Nkili. The conference approved and agreed to submit to the Council of Ministers the draft decision for the creation of the centre. The Council will forward the document to the conference of Heads of State. With regard to the appellation of the centre, the Ministers opted for the Climate Forecast Centre in Central Africa, (Centre d’Application et de Prévisions Climatologiques de l’Afrique Central), CAPC-AC.

ECCAS and CEMAC are expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the joint management of the centre, taking into consideration the rationalisation process between the two economic blocs. Experts explain that CAPC-AC is a specialized agency and ECCAS’s large geographic scope calls for joint management.

Representatives of the 10 ECCAS countries: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and Chad, represented at the meeting, noted with interest the offer from Cameroon to host the headquarters of the centre in its economic capital Douala. The choice of the seat is however, the discretion of the Heads of State.

The Ministers invited the Secretary General of ECCAS and the President of the CEMAC Commission to liaise with Member States to urgently secure funding as well as mobilise new partners in a bid to accelerate the process to set up the centre.

CAPC-AC will generate and deliver more regionally-focused high-resolution data and products as well as training and capacity-building of climate experts.

It is one of the institutions of excellence of the World Meteorological Organisation that creates regional products, including long-range forecasts that supports regional and national climate activities. It will strengthen capacity so as to deliver better climate services to national users.