IMWI LANUCHES HIGH-TECH DROUGHT MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ZAMBIA


IMWI LANUCHES HIGH-TECH DROUGHT MONITORING SYSTEM FOR ZAMBIA



By Alfonso Kasongo

Zambia will now be better equipped to cope with droughts following the launch of a new satellite-based online weather-monitoring system, the Zambia Drought Monitoring System (ZADMS). 

The Southern African country has in the last few years been experiencing adverse impact of climate variability among them crop failure due to droughts and floods,therefore the satelite based online weather-monitoring system is launched at a time when the country is in serious need for online weather monitoring equipment as it grapples with the impact of climate change. 

The System (ZADMS), developed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) for Zambia’s Ministry of Agriculture is aimed at providing all the information needed to effectively manage drought and will spur weather monitoring.

The new system uses the same technology as the one tried-and-tested South Asia Drought Monitoring System (SADMS), which whose development begun  in 2014.

Giriraj Amarnath, ClimBeR Country Lead Zambia and Research Group Leader for Water, Risks to Development and Resilience at IWMI, explains that  “SADMS is now regularly used by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre, UN World Food Programme, partners of the World Bank and others to mitigate drought risk.

The ZADMS was devised to enable the government of the republic of Zambia and partner organizations to monitor when a drought is emerging, identify the severity of an evolving drought and will help the government through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to take appropriate action early on to support citizens to avoid the worst impacts of prolonged dry spells.

Officiating at the launch ,Ministry of Agriculture Acting Permanent Secretary Mrs Peggy Mlewa  said the high-tech satelite comes at time when the country is experiencing increased adverse impacts of climate change disclosing that the satelite will foster collaboration between the government and stakeholders as it will now effectively work together with other ministries, research centres, extension officers, farmers and private-sector to take timely action to prepare for droughts before the crisis point of the drought is reached.

“Until now we have not had a well-established framework for managing drought as a Ministry's “We are therefore delighted that ZADMS is providing us with an end-to-end drought management system,” Mrs Mlewa said.

participants of the launch posing for a group photo 

And Mark Smith, IWMI’s Director General... said “Life in Zambia is becoming increasingly risky because climate change is unleashing more floods, droughts, and unpredictable rainfall."

He stressed that “While ZADMS can not change the weather it can help the Zambian government to make informed decisions and help them deliver the information that farmers need to cope. For example, with a drought looming, ministers might decide to import extra food or prepare plans for providing supplementary irrigation to farmers, helping to make the nation more resilient to climate shocks.”

IWMI is implementing the new system as part of the CGIAR Initiative on Climate Resilience (known as ClimBeR) and the program Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA). Involving collaboration between multiple organizations, these efforts are applying new technologies and approaches to address the social, environmental and economic consequences of climate change.

Drought is one of the most threatening natural hazards due to its creeping and invasive nature, which exacerbates existing systemic vulnerabilities, creates new risks and consequentially manifests as multi-dimensional hindrances to sustainable development.

In Zambia, drought is a recurrent problem and events of 1991–1992, 2015–2016, 2019–2020 and 2021–22 were particularly damaging, affecting millions of people due to crop failures, food and water shortages, livestock deaths and reduced GDP.

ZDMS incorporates national- to district-level datasets drawn from multiple satellites and other sources. It provides seasonal, sub-seasonal and seven-day weather forecasts; monitoring tools to indicate when drought is present and, if so, the level of severity; and district-level agricultural contingency plans that can be put into action if the system indicates that specified triggers have been reached. Data are primarily presented as easy-to-interpret on-screen maps but can be output as user-friendly drought bulletins if required.

In the past, difficulties in locating, accessing and having the computing power to analyze weather and agricultural data made drought monitoring a slow and costly process,however, the ZADMS will overcome this challenge by presenting all the data required for monitoring and managing drought through a single portal, which is freely accessible to anyone with a desktop computer and internet access.

“ZADMS’ usability facilitates collaborative working at all levels between institutions and across sectors, which is vital when seeking to mitigate the multiple and complex impacts of climate change,” says Ana María Loboguerrero, the ClimBeR Lead and scientist at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT.

IWMI jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture, ClimBeR, AICCRA and related organizations officially launched the ZADMS at a workshop on 20th February , Lusaka. Participants working in meteorology, water resources, agriculture and disaster management explored the ZADMS’ capabilities in drought monitoring and early warning; assessed ways to institutionalize the ZADMS at national and sub-national levels on existing knowledge products, and promote multi-institutional collaboration to mitigate drought risks; and discussed the development of contingency plans as part of Zambia’s future drought management strategy.


 

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