As climate change impacts intensify in the Caribbean, the region is scaling up responses by improving the availability of climate information, products and services and expanding climate networks. Meteorological officers from Meteorological Service, Jamaica are set to benefit from a Climate Product and Climate Services Toolkit Workshop being held from November 26 to December 5, 2018, at the Department of Physics at the University of the West Indies in Kingston. The training which is being coordinated by the Investment Plan of the Caribbean Regional Track of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) in collaboration with the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), will increase capacity of the meteorological officers to capture, monitor and evaluate climate data to create forecasts and prediction tools which will inform adaptation planning across sectors.
The two-week sessions are being led by regional and international climate experts from the CIMH and will provide meteorological officers with the software and tools to generate science-based climate information. The training will focus on topics such as climate data preparation and quality control, climate forecasting, climate indices calculation – which looks at changes within the climate system, climate trends, and extremes.
Following the training, meteorologists will be better equipped to define and develop the next generation of climate products and services for climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, health, energy, and disaster risk reduction. The climate products and services are expected to enhance decision making within these key sectors thus reducing vulnerability to disasters and increasing resilience at the national level.
