African Flood and Drought Monitor Training in East Africa

Under the auspices of UNESCO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, selected national practitioners in Eastern Africa met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 8th to 10th October 2019 to receive training on the application of state-of-the-art methods for drought monitoring and forecasting. Participants came from the Ministry of Water/Agricultural/Meteorological departments from IGAD and EAC Countries. The workshop was led by water experts and scientists from Princeton Climate Analytics (Princeton University (USA), UNESCO International Hydrology Programme (IHP) and others.

One of the featured products of the training course was the African Flood and Drought Monitor (AFDM). The AFDM is a powerful and versatile web-based tool that can monitor and predict periods of flooding and drought by providing up-to-date data for more than 20 different meteorological and hydrological variables, as well as allowing the user to visualize and download region-specific data. It was developed by Princeton University's Terrestrial Hydrology Research Group in collaboration with G-WADI, ICIWaRM and regional water and climate centers in Africa.

More information on the course can be found at UNECA and UNESCO's Nairobi Office.