This archive report was first published on 19 November 2019.
Kenya is taking a crucial step towards mitigating the effects of climate change on its agricultural sector. The country is set to launch its first localised weather modelling system, the Climate Atlas, in March next year.
Developed by researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, the Climate Atlas will provide projections on rainfall and temperature patterns across Kenya's 47 counties from 2050 to 2100.
According to John Wesonga, the lead developer of the web-based Climate Atlas platform, the system will provide policymakers, researchers, businesses, and farmers with crucial data to inform their decisions.
"The Climate Atlas will provide us with future scenarios of what the weather patterns will be like at a county-level in Kenya," Wesonga said. "We are looking for data such as in which locations will we see the highest and lowest temperatures and rainfall, how high and low will the temperatures and rainfall likely to be, what time of year they will happen, and how long they will last."
The Climate Atlas is expected to help Kenya's policymakers and farmers make informed decisions about investments in agriculture production. "Investing in irrigation is useful if more droughts are predicted, but if the long-term prediction is that rainfall will increase, a different investment - such as greenhouses for tomato production - might be more sensible," said Irene Koomen from Wageningen University and Research.
Kenya is not alone in its efforts to combat climate change. The Climate Atlas is being developed for other countries, including Bangladesh and Indonesia.
