Executive Summary
Easily accessible, timely and decision – relevant scientific information can help society to cope with current climate variability and change and limit the economic and social damage caused by climate – related disasters . Climate Information Services (CIS) can also support society to build resilience to future climate change and take advantage of opportunities provided by favourable climate conditions. Effective CI S require established technical capacities and active communication and exchange between information producers, translators, and user communities.
This initiative outlines a proposed framework for a Kitui County Climate Information Services Plan (KC CISP) which aims to develop and deliver weather and climate information which can support local, sub-county, county – and national – level decision making at time frames of hours, days, weeks, months, seasons and years in line with national and international development frameworks including the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Kenya Vision 2030 and the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) as well as the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).
The plan recognizes that the delivery of Climate Information Service which can effectively support decision making requires the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders. Stakeholders of the KCCISP encompass: County Government Administration at county, sub – county, ward and village levels, County Ministries across sectors together with their respective extension services, decentralized Government agencies, religious leaders across different faith groups and denominations, local, community and livelihood associations, private sector bodies and national and international Public Based Organisations (PBOs) and universities and research institutes.
The plan aims to support development of an integrated framework for CIS which supports decision making across the principal livelihood groups as well as strategic and climate – sensitive sectoral county government planning. It comprises:
- Strengthening of Kenya Meteorological Service (KM S ) observational capacities within Kitui county which will lead to improved quality of KMS products;
- Creating channels for two – way exchange of l earning between the providers and users of weather and climate information through employing a variety of new and existing channels, including: a County Sectoral Planning Forum, community – based intermediaries, SMS and regional and local radios;
- Developing a process for regular communication of daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal weather and climate information as well as extreme weather alerts and warnings which is accessible to the entire County population;
- Providing weather and climate information which can support county level decision making, including strategy development, budgeting and planning across sectors;
- Building the capacities of KMS and intermediaries to appropriately convey and employ weather and climate information within decision making processes at different levels and across time frames;
