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International Workshop on the Content,
Communication and
Use of Weather and Climate Products and Services for
Sustainable Agriculture
Toowoomba, Australia
18-20 May 2009
Workshop Overview
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the University of Southern Queensland, and the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) together with a number of other co-sponsors are organizing this workshop and the background, specific objectives and expected outcomes are listed below.
The workshop will bring together members of the WMO Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) Expert Teams on the Content and Use of Agrometeorological Products by Farmers and Extension Services (ETCUAP-OPAG 1) and on Communication of Agrometeorological Products and Services (ETCAPS-OPAG 2) and other world wide experts. The two expert teams will meet seperately on 21 May 2009.
Background
Weather and climate have always been major risks for productive and sustainable farming. This has not only had an impact on the profitability of farmers, but also on rural communities and food security for the wider community. The need to double global food production by 2050 presents enormous challenges for agricultural productivity growth in all parts of the world. These challenges are hard enough with the current variable climate; a changing climate greatly increases the uncertainty and the need for sound risk management. The IPCC notes the need for information on climate delivered to farmers as an important adaptation option.
Targeted weather and climate information and forecasting can increase preparedness and lead to better economic, social, and environmental outcomes for farmers. Information is only of value if it is used, more effective approaches to communicate and deliver climate and weather information, including seasonal forecasts and climate change projections will require cross-disciplinary approaches that bring together research and development institutions, relevant disciplines, and farmers as partners to benefit from facts. Furthermore, farmers are now asking for more effective systems to help them cope with climatic change. According to IPCC, there are many potential ways to help farmers overcome some of the issues associated with climate change. Nevertheless, considerable work needs to be done globally on improving content, communication methods and associated delivery of core.
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Specific Workshop Objectives
- To review and evaluate the use of agrometeorological products (Decision Support Systems; crop calendars; combined climate-ag forecast systems) by region, provide guidance on agrometeorological applications to farmers and extension services, and make recommendations for improvements in advisories and forecasts for both short-term daily operational decisions and long-term strategic planning at the farm level.
- To review case studies from Member countries of successful applications of weather and climate products for agriculture, and assess their strengths, weaknesses and limitations for more general use.
- To develop and propose recommendations for enhancing more effective transfer and dialogue for training and demonstration between agrometeorological services and farmers at the local level to provide better services to farmers.
- To review the current means of communication of agrometeorological products and services to the farming sector in different regions.
- To identify the needs for improving the current systems of communication of weather and climate products and services for promoting sustainable agriculture;
- To evaluate the feasibility of implementing new and/or appropriate tools for communication and dissemination of weather and climate products and services and assess the socio-economic and environmental impacts of these new tools.
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Expected Workshop Outcomes
Senior experts in the field will be invited to prepare state-of-the-art discussion papers to address the above objectives. The programme for the meeting will be designed in such a way as to engage all the participants (including invited local experts and farmers from the region in which the workshop is being held) in discussions on each of these discussion papers in order to develop appropriate recommendations for all organizations involved in the development of products and more effective communication systems, including decision-support systems.
Proceedings of the Meeting will be published by WMO in a book and will be widely distributed. Also, recommendations from the Workshop will be considered at the ensuing session of the WMO Commission for Agricultural Meteorology.
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Workshop Co-Sponsors
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