Climate scientists in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) were urged on Wednesday to utilize technology and know-how from advanced meteorological services and other international organizations to help develop the region's meteorological systems.

Zimbabwe Transport and Communications Minister, Christopher Mushohwe, said this when he officially opened the ninth Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF) aimed at developing a consensus climate outlook forecast for the SADC region for the October 2005 to March 2006 rainfall season.

The outlook will facilitate discussions on the potential impact of the projected outlooks on agriculture, regional food security, energy, disaster preparedness and other water-sensitive socio-economic sectors.

"We are particularly mindful of the importance of climate system monitoring and prediction in helping mitigate the negative impacts of its extremes," said Mushohwe.

He noted that weather information should be understandable and come from designated national and regional authorities so that governments could make appropriate plans and policies.

In this regard, he said, specialized regional meteorological centers such as the SADC Drought Monitoring Center needed to be strengthened to effectively support their national meteorological services in providing capacity in specialized forecasts and climate prediction.

He appealed to the international community to be sensitive to the requirements of the SADC region since meteorological systems did not recognize political boundaries.

SARCOF has been running for nine years now and falls under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization.

Source: Xinhua