By Alloycious David
The Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia (EPA) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other line ministries and agencies of the Liberian Government on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 began a two-day climate information user training workshop in Gbarnga, Bong County.
The training is in an effort to enhance access to weather and climate information nationally across Liberia.
The training which is being held under the auspices of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Project with funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) is co-hosted by the Department of Meteorology/Early Warning System, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority.
The training seeks to increase awareness and sensitize local and national stakeholders on the use of the Early Warning System Products and provide training to farmers, fishermen and journalists on the installation and use of a weather application called WeatherBug.
WeatherBug is a mobile application owned by US based GroundTruth, which provides location and report live forecast data on hyperlocal weather to users.
Providing the overview of the training, E. Abraham T. Tumbey Jr., NAP Project Manager, disclosed that following the training, 25 of the participants will receive android phones used for the training with the Weatherbug application installed.
“This will be a step forward for farmers, fishermen and other resource users by enhancing the adoption of mobile phone to provide weather and climate information at the local level,” Mr. Tumbey said.
He added that with the support of local media practitioners, agriculture, fisheries and other extension officers, the mobile devices will serve as a useful tool for disseminating weather and climate forecasts among producers thus enabling decision-making on suitable timing and date for land preparation, sowing, applying fertilizer, drying of crops for women as well as fishing activities for local fishermen.
This activity, he further stated is part of efforts intended to enhance resilience to climate change in that producers can access information on future events in the short term and medium term, along with advice and recommendation on productive practices as per their specific needs.
