27 January 2016: The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) has published a live web-map to monitor climate and associated hazards in the Greater Horn of Africa region to improve accessibility to climate and hazard data. IGAD-ICPAC’s comprehensive map includes information related to climate, flood hazard and changes in vegetation conditions.

The web-map was developed with technical support from the Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) of the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and funding from the Government of Norway. It is constantly updated to ensure simultaneous and timely availability of information to all stakeholders.

The map is composed of seven geographic layers of data and displays accumulated rainfall, seasonal climate outlooks, flood hazard, flood risk and river flow indicators, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomaly analysis, satellite flood analysis and photos from the field. The map combines regularly updated data from ICPAC, UNOSAT, the International Centre on Environmental Monitoring (CIMA) Research Foundation, the 2015 Global Assessment Report (GAR) on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The map allows for comprehensive monitoring of climate conditions in the region and includes: flood forecasts created on the basis of simulated flood scenarios; seasonal climate outlooks; and analyses of vegetation changes.

ICPAC will officially launch the live web-map during the 42nd Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF 42) that will take place from 22-23 February 2016, in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 1989, 24 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa established a Drought Monitoring Centre (DMCN) with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. In October 2003, the Heads of State and Governments of IGAD adopted DMCN as a specialized IGAD institution. The name of the institution was at the same time changed to IGAD ICPAC in order to better reflect all its mandates, mission and objectives within the IGAD system. The centre is responsible for: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. [UNITAR Press Release] [IGAD-ICPAC Live Web-map] [IGAD-ICPAC Website]