Weathering storms with telecoms

By Lezette Engelbrecht for Ericsson
Johannesburg, 19 Jun 2009

A collaborative project will see up to 5 000 weather stations deployed across Africa, to strengthen the continent's weather monitoring network as climate change shocks intensify.

The 'Weather info for all' initiative is a public-private partnership between the Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF), Ericsson, the World Meteorological Organisation, telecoms company Zain, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

The GHF initiated this scheme in response to the severe lack of weather information in Africa, highlighted at the forum's first annual event in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to Lars Linden, president of Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, automatic weather stations (AWS) will be deployed at wireless network sites across the continent, with mobile networks providing the connectivity, power and security to maintain the stations.

The stations are intended to increase key information for predicting and managing climate shocks, and mobile operators will assist in transmitting data to national meteorological services, according to a press statement.

Linden says the initiative aims to fill the African weather observation gap and reinforce meteorological services' capacity, by generating accurate weather forecasts and early warnings. Raw data will be freely available to scientists, researchers and universities, among others.

“More importantly,” he adds, “it provides for the dissemination of these accurate weather forecasts via a suitable telecoms information bearer, such as an SMS, directly to the end-users who need it most - farmers, fishermen, rural and urban communities.”

A recent GHF report estimates climate change is responsible for 300 000 deaths each year and over $100 billion worth of economic losses, largely due to impacts on health and agricultural productivity. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for almost 25% of those losses and is at the most immediate risk of droughts and floods.

According to Linden, Africa has a network eight times below the World Meteorological Organisation minimum recommended standard, with fewer than 200 weather stations that meet observation requirements. This compares to several thousand each in Europe, North America and parts of Asia.

“Approximately 70% of Africans rely on farming for their livelihood and over 95% of Africa's agriculture depends on rainfall. Changing weather patterns due to climate change render obsolete traditional knowledge relating to agriculture otherwise reliable for centuries, creating a great need for meteorological information,” he says.

Broader benefits

The initiative aims to extend beyond disaster and agriculture preparation, as it includes assistance to national meteorological services in training and technical capacities.

According to Linden, this includes the provision of scholarships for training in AWS maintenance, and modelling and analysis of weather information, as well as through the improvement of ICT infrastructure as needed.

Ericsson also plans to develop mobile applications through its Mobile Innovation Centre, based in hubs in Kenya, SA and Nigeria, to facilitate the communication of weather information from national meteorological services via mobile phones.

Linden says additional applications will enable network operators to offer relevant weather services to subscribers, either through subscription or portal services.

Phase one of the initiative has already begun, with Ericsson's and Zain's installations of new wireless network sites in the Lake Victoria region and at Millennium Village sites in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

The first 19 AWS being deployed will double the weather monitoring capacity of the Lake region, with phase one to be completed by the end of the year.

Phase two, set to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, will extend the initial phase to East Africa, beginning with the deployment of 147 units in Kenya, 99 in Uganda, and 187 in Tanzania, according to Linden.

After phase two is completed, the initiative will be extended to the rest of the African continent, based on an economical grouping approach and various criteria, including government readiness, existing regional cooperation, political stability, funding and local service provider commitment.

There are no set plans for stations to be built in SA, as Ericsson wants to ensure the model functions regionally and is scalable at a continental level before implementing it in other African countries, says Linden.