By Mabinty M. Kamara
In an effort to build a “resilient system to adapt to the raft of climate change” in the country, the Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency (SL-Met) and partners have in a two-day workshop validated the National Framework for climate Services in Sierra Leone.
According to officials, the document will help the agency to effectively carry out its core service expansion drive.
Gabriel Kpaka, the Deputy Director General and Head of Operations of the Agency, said two consulting services were hired with support from the regional body in Switzerland - the World Metrological Organization to conduct research into the status of the services provided by the agency including the challenges the organisation must deal with. He said it was from this study that the strategic and action plans were developed.
Kpaka added that the plan spans from 2021 to 2022 and that by 2022, the agency would fully execute its functions not just from the aviation sector but the marine, agriculture, water and health sectors as well as be in a position to get the necessary information needs of the various sectors.
The two-day engagement at the Sierra Light House hotel at Aberdeen in Freetown on the 16th and 17th December 2020 brought together stakeholders from various sectors including agencies dealing with the environment, water, agriculture among others. It was also aimed at addressing the “effects of climate change and provide a policy framework to support the mainstreaming and institutionalization of adaptation and mitigation efforts in the country.”
Ibrahim Kamara, Director General of SLMet said the move is part of a broader plan for the institution to be able to provide the required services according to the needs of the various sectors they work with.
“We want to move from just providing weather and climate services to tailored-made weather services. For instance, the grid that may be needed by agriculture might not be the same for those from the water management agency and so all the needs vary and for us to be able to address those special needs, we have this document to guide us,” he said.
John Vandi Rogers, Director Disaster Management, National disaster Management Agency while applauding SLMet for the effort made, assured them of his institution’s full commitment to a productive exercise.
“It’s a worthy one and it’s because of that reason that as a new agency, the national disaster management agency, we will throw our sufficient weight behind the work that is being done here to ensure that the objective for which the strategic plan was developed, the goal for which the national action plan was developed is realized as a country. We can only do so by ensuring that we put our thoughts, our energies and our thinking together so that we are able to come out with a holistic document that can contribute to our development agenda,” he said.
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