Effa Tambenkongho
3 December 2011
Deputy Minister of the environment, Ana Paula Chichava, said that since Mozambique is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, her country is keen to participate in the open data for climate initiative competition launched by the World Bank.
She said the competition provides an opportunity for citizens to have access to relevant information about climate change in their country. Chichava said there is a need to participate in the competition in order to extend education to the rural areas so that a better informed population will be empowered to cope with the consequences of global warming.
The World Bank says the open data for climate initiative gives everyone the opportunity to use open data to create innovative software applications that can help solve some of the development problems posed by climate change.
According to World Bank official, Andrew Steer, the competition aims to discover new and extraordinary ways to use open climate data to mitigate the consequences of a changing and ever more unpredictable climate. “We hope to unleash the creative energy out there which will help create solutions to weather-related disasters, risks for agriculture, food and water supplies, rising sea levels and other climate related challenges”.
Speaking briefly on the effects of climate change in Mozambique, the deputy minister said the country is vulnerable because of its geographical location. She added that Mozambique needs to access climate data to know how to make more effective use of available water resources, to inform the population living along the coastal areas, to know when and what crops to plant, and to advise local populations when droughts and floods are looming so that they can move from areas most likely to be seriously affected.
According to World Bank data on Mozambique, the country is prone to severe droughts every three to four years and is also subjected to floods caused by tropical cyclones three to four times a year.
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Mozambique: Country to Access Open Climate Data to Limit Climatic Effects