For many developing-country NMSs without internal training facilities, advanced capacity development often relies on short, intensive courses lasting one or two weeks and focused on specific techniques or tools. While these courses can improve knowledge and technical skills, they rarely lead to a meaningful increase in competence—which requires the sustained application of methods and tools within real operational environments.

In line with this principle, one of the most effective approaches to building lasting competence is to embed trainees within an operational team for a sufficiently long period. This allows them to acquire not only technical knowledge but also hands-on operational experience and an understanding of the team’s working practices.

During the joint CALMET XVI and CONEC T 3 conference held in Florence, Italy, on 24–28 November 2025, a panel session presented the collaborative experience between the Meteorological Service of the Tuscany Region (LaMMA, Italy), the National Meteorological Services of Niger (DMN) and Burkina Faso (ANAM), supported by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) through the Institute of BioEconomy (IBE) and the WMO Regional Training Center in Italy.

With the facilitation of Mr. Stephen Kerr (Meteorological Service of Canada), the panelists illustrated how, within the Slapis Sahel project, the WMO Regional Training Center in Italy designed and implemented a blended and integrated training programme aimed at strengthening the competencies of the NMSs of Niger and Burkina Faso. The objective was to enable local forecasters, modelers and IT specialists to operationalize regional Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) chains in support of hydrometeorological early warning systems.

The cornerstone of this programme was the embedding of two modelers from the African partner institutions into the IBE–LaMMA operational team for more than a year. Working closely with Italian researchers and forecasters, they acquired not only technical knowledge and skills but also operational experience and competence in running and maintaining NWP systems. This training strategy is fully aligned with the WMO Competency Framework for Public Weather Service Forecasters and Advisers.

The panelists discussed both the results and the challenges of this approach, highlighting its mutual benefits for African and Italian institutions. They also outlined the conditions needed to ensure the sustainability and replicability of embedding trainees within operational teams, including institutional commitment, technical readiness and individual motivation.

The Panlelists; from left to right: Vieri Tarchiani, Bernardo Gozzini, Valerio Capecchi, Rakiswende Thomas Bere, Younoussa Adamou Sayri and Stephen Kerr.

The post From Training to Transformation: Co-Developing Forecasting Capacities for Early Warning in West Africa appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

Under the coordination of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), through its Institute for BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), and the LaMMA Consortium — the operational meteorological service of the Tuscany Region — an international meeting titled “International Cooperation in Applied Meteorology for Reducing Hydroclimatic Risks” has been held in Florence, Italy, on 14 October 2025. The event brings together representatives of Italian and African meteorological services, researchers, international organizations, and cooperation agencies to share experiences, consolidate partnerships, and discuss future directions for operational forecasting in the region.

As highlighted by CNR, “Climate change and natural disasters represent a common challenge at all latitudes.” This shared challenge requires joint scientific action, capacity building, and knowledge exchange. For more than forty years, CNR has been engaged in research, technology transfer and training  — through the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Training Centre in Italy (WMO-RTC Italy) — in Africa promoting collaboration and co-development in meteorology, climatology, and agrometeorology.

The Florence meeting showcases this long-standing cooperation, particularly through projects such as SLAPIS Sahel, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by the Politecnico di Torino, CNR-IBE, LaMMA, and the national meteorological services of Niger and Burkina Faso. The initiative focuses on improving operational meteorological forecasting chains and developing hydrometeorological early-warning services adapted to local contexts. It also invests in human capacity — training African forecasters, modellers, and IT specialists both in Italy and in their home countries — to ensure that advanced tools like the MOLOCH and WRF models can be effectively used for real-time weather prediction.

Beyond its scientific dimension, the event symbolizes a broader vision of international cooperation: building resilience together, across continents, through shared knowledge and trust. It includes the signing of new collaboration agreements between the Italian and African institutions, reaffirming the commitment to long-term partnerships that go beyond project cycles.

As LaMMA emphasizes, “operational meteorology and international cooperation go hand in hand when it comes to protecting lives and livelihoods.” By pooling expertise and resources, Italy, Niger and Burkina Faso are contributing to a global effort to make meteorological services more accurate, inclusive, and impactful.

At a time when climate extremes are increasing everywhere, initiatives like this one highlight how joint scientific collaboration can turn forecasting into foresight — and foresight into resilience.

Links

https://www.cnr.it/it/evento/20145 : CNR – Previsione meteorologica per la riduzione dei rischi naturali nel Sahel: la cooperazione scientifica Italia-Africa

https://www.cnr.it/it/news/13836/cambiamenti-climatici-e-disastri-naturali-una-sfida-comune-a-tutte-le-latitudini : CNR – Cambiamenti climatici e disastri naturali una sfida comune a tutte le latitudini

https://www.lamma.toscana.it/news/previsione-meteo-e-riduzione-dei-rischi-sahel-la-cooperazione-italia-africa : LaMMA – Cooperazione internazionale e meteorologia operativa: a Firenze una giornata di confronto

Presentations

1. Weather forecasting and climate risk reduction in dry tropical Africa (Vieri Tarchiani, IBE-CNR)
2. State of the art and applications of NWP in Burkina Faso (Lazare Sawadogo, ANAM)
3. Towards autonomy for Niger’s Meteorological Service in the production of climate services based on NWP (Ousman Baoua, DMN)
4. Training activities on meteorology and climatology hosted by the Italian Air Force (Antonio Vocino, Sezione Cooperazione Internazionale dell’Ufficio Generale AVIAMM dell’Aeronautica Militare)
5. Training in applied meteorology (Marina Baldi, WMO Regional Training Center in Italy/IBE-CNR)
6. MOLOCH: a CNR operational model for Europe (Oxana Drofa, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate-CNR)
7. MOLOCH West Africa (Francesco Pasi, LaMMA/IBE-CNR)
8. WRF verification in Niger and Burkina Faso (T. Bere / Y. Adamou Sayri – IBE-CNR/ANAM/DMN)
9. A Review of Recent Advances in AI Models for Weather Forecasting (Valerio Capecchi – LaMMA and ItaliaMeteo)
10. Forecasting, thresholds, and triggers for droughts in Mozambique (Massimiliano Pasqui, IBE-CNR)
11. International cooperation at Italia Meteo: Albatros project (Eva Merloni, Agenzia ItaliaMeteo)

The post Weather Forecasting and Climate Cooperation between Italy and Africa: Strengthening Early Warning and Resilience in the Sahel appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

These are the key topics that will be discussed during a meeting at the Accademia dei Georgofili in Florence on March 11. Experts from leading institutions will explore climate change adaptation strategies, biodiversity’s role in agricultural resilience, precision farming, meteorological services for risk reduction, and technological innovations for climate monitoring.

Program Highlights

9:30 AM – Welcome and Opening Remarks
10:00 AM – Key Presentations:
– Climate Change and Agriculture – Marco Bindi, Accademia dei Georgofili, University of Florence
– Agricultural Biodiversity as an Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change – Chiara Piccini, CNR-IBE
– Agrometeorology and Environmental Sustainability – Simone Orlandini, Accademia dei Georgofili, University of Florence, Fondazione Clima e Sostenibilità
– Agrometeorological Services in West Africa: From Early Warning for Food Security to Supporting Smallholder Farmers – Vieri Tarchiani, CNR-IBE
– Precision Agriculture for Climate Change Adaptation – Alessandro Matese, CNR-IBE
– Operational Meteorology for Agroclimatic Risk Mitigation – Bernardo Gozzini, Accademia dei Georgofili, CNR-IBE, LaMMA
– New Technologies for Climate and Water Stress Monitoring – Ramona Magno, CNR-IBE
12:30 PM – Discussion and Closing Remarks

This event provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the progress of agrometeorological research and its role in ensuring the resilience and sustainability of agricultural systems in the face of climate change. Join us for insightful discussions and expert perspectives on the future of climate-smart agriculture.

Please Note that participation is subject to prior registration by filling out the following form by 2:00 PM on Monday, March 10, 2025: https://forms.gle/CQaTtkTwy2yLdWLy8.

Link: https://www.georgofili.it/contenuti/agrometeorologia-e-cambiamenti-climatici-50-anni-di-ricerca-al-servizio-dell-agricoltura/24705

The post Agrometeorology and Climate Change: 50 Years of Research Supporting Agriculture appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

IBE-CNR was represented by a group of researchers from Florence and Rome, who participated in the side events and contributed to the sessions:

ES1.7 Co-development of weather and climate services in developing and emerging countries:

• Vieri Tarchiani and Maurizio Bacci, The added value of the co-production process delivering climate services in Niger (view presentation)

ES2.1 Communication and media:

• Vieri Tarchiani and Sebastian Grey, Challenges and opportunities to communicate agrometeorological information for smallholder farmers in developing countries (view presentation)

• Valentina Grasso, Giulio Betti, Claudio Tei, and Bernardo Gozzini Enhancing Weather Communication: The Power of Live Streaming and Collaboration (view presentation)

OSA2.2 Agricultural and Forest Meteorology :

• Marina Baldi and Dino Biancolini, Effects of climate change on wild pollinators: the case of butterflies in Central Italy (view presentation)

UP3.2 Mid-latitude atmospheric teleconnection dynamics:

• Giovanni Dalu and Marina Baldi, Marine air particle trajectories into the Asia-Africa monsoonal system (view presentation)

ES2.1 Communication and media session on Wed, 04 September, Room Paranimf, University of Barcelona

The post EMS 2024: The role of weather and climate research in the achievement of a climate-neutral Europe. appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

An article published in January 2022 by Raju, Boyd, and Otto, begins with an enlightening incipit: “Disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability”.  

According to United Nations (UN) terminology, Risk is the combination of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. Hence the purpose of risk research and analysis is to reduce the impacts of events and save our lives and societies, modifying one of the three components of risk: hazard, exposure and vulnerability. It is acknowledged that an earthquake in the desert is risk zero. But as a matter of fact, risks mainly occur in a social context and are necessarily connected to people’s activities. 

Hence saying disasters occur when hazards meet vulnerability underlines that it is fundamental to develop knowledge and assess risk throughout the disaster life cycle not only as a physical event but also considering its economic and social dimension.

It is nothing new that also risk management studies emphasise the importance of greater integration of disciplines. But it is not a matter of course that researchers from different disciplines compare notes to find ways to cooperate and collaborate operationally. This was the idea that animated the meeting held on 12 December on Flood Risk Assessment and forecasting, organised by CNR-Ibe, where the speakers illustrated and exchanged their approaches, with a special focus on social impact assessment. We hope this seminar represents the first step towards further exchanges and operational ways to integrate the different perspectives that share a common goal: reduce the impact of risks.

The Videos

Keynote Speakers

6 Videos

Vieri Tarchiani - Introduction

11:12

Maurizio Tiepolo

29:46

Antonio Aledo

31:26

Guadalupe Ortiz

26:06

Lauro Rossi

37:05

Discussion

51:07

The Presentations

Maurizio Tiepolo

Antonio Aledo

Guadalupe Ortiz

Lauro Rossi

Maurizio Tiepolo

Antonio Aledo

Guadalupe Ortiz

Lauro Rossi

The Speakers

Antonio Aledo

Full Professor at the University of Alicante (UA). PhD in Sociology and MSc in Anthropology (Louisiana State University) with more than 70 articles and book chapters published. He teaches Environmental Sociology and Sociology of Risk at the UA. His line of research focuses on the development of Social Impact Assessment (SIA) methodologies and social vulnerability analysis applied to megaprojects and natural disasters. He investigated the social impacts of megaprojects such as the expansion of the Panama Canal, a set of dams in the upper Paraná River basin (Brazil) and the Baker River (Chilean Patagonia) or mining projects in the Brazilian Amazon. In the field of natural disasters, he is applying SIA to flood and earthquake hazards. He is the director of the Socioeconomic Observatory of Floods and Droughts at the Institute of Water and Environmental Sciences (UA) and collaborator of the Scientific Division of Environmental Management, Science and Technology, University of Sao Paulo.

Guadalupe Ortiz

PhD in Sociology at University of Alicante (UA) and a MSc in Environmental Management at University of Valencia. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology I (University of Alicante), deputy director of the Institute of Water and Environmental Sciences, director of the directs Population, Environment and Development research group and deputy director of the Socioeconomic Observatory of Floods and Droughts. She has chaired the Research Committee 21 of Sociology and Environment of the Spanish Federation of Sociology. She is specialised in Environmental Sociology. Her main line of work focuses on the development of methodological tools for the diagnosis and management of socio-environmental problems,
with a recent interest in the impacts of natural disasters, as well as the application of participatory and transdisciplinary approaches to environmental management.

Maurizio Tiepolo

Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at DIST (Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio) - Politecnico di Torino. He has been studying measures to address flood, drought and warm spell risk in the rural and urban tropics since 2011. He has coordinated several local risk reduction plans. Areas of academic interest are Climate Change Adaptation, Climate Planning, Disaster Risk Reduction, Land policies, Land surface temperature, Land Tenure, Land use/land cover change, Local Development, Regional Planning, Sustainable Development, Urban Planning. He has been scientific responsible of several international projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. His research is interdisciplinary: Agronomy, Geomatics, Hydraulics, Hydrology, and Climatology. The involvement of networks of researchers aims to enrich methods and comparisons. Innovative methods and research findings are then shared through vocational training in Italy and the Global South.

Lauro Rossi

Environmental Engineer with more than 20 years of relevant experience in Disaster Risk Reduction at national and international level, with special focus on flood risk assessment and Early Warning System (EWS). As EWS Program Director, he coordinates CIMA Innovation, Development and Implementation of Early Warning Systems in different contexts and for different hazards (floods, droughts, wildfires). He has a long record of successful implementations of research and operational projects, as well as complex international DRR projects mainly in Africa, Latin America and Caribbean. Consolidated experience in building consensus, partnership and negotiation with governments, UN system and international investment banks for the implementation of projects at regional and country scale. Active participation as invited speaker in international conferences and author of papers in international refereed journals, scientific reports and book chapters.

The post Flood Risk Assessment and Forecasting: the inter-disciplinary dialogue appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

Vieri Tarchiani, CNR-IBE, presented an analysis of the Anadia 2.0 project to highlight how Digital Technology and climate service co-production can leverage positive interaction and trust among different actors, increasing the effective use of climate services.

Abstract

Digital technology (DT) is gaining momentum for the last mile communication of Agrometeorological Services (AS) in Niger: DT (particularly WhatsApp and Kobocollect) enhances the interaction and information exchange within the system actors and contributes to building trust and changing the relations between information providers, extension officers, and farmers. DT also empowers communities to contribute to the service co-production with observed data on local conditions and timely feedback on information received and its performance, thereby improving their engagement in the AS. Nevertheless, rural radios still are the most powerful tool for reaching farmers directly. However, the effective use of these channels requires propaedeutic training activities.

Slide Presentation

The post EMS 2022: Effective Communication of Agrometeorological Services appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

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On 14 and 15 July, the final conference of the Anadia 2.0 project will take place in Niamey. The event will be an opportunity to share the project’s outcomes and illustrate the innovative and positive impacts of the project in adapting to climate change, preventing disasters and developing sustainable agriculture to increase food security. One of the strengths of the project is the close multidisciplinary collaboration between Italian and Nigerian key players who will bring their experience and lead the discussion during the conference. The importance and success of the project are also demonstrated by the presence, during the Opening Ceremony of the Conference, of high-level Nigerien authorities such as the Minister of Hydraulics and Sanitation, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Humanitarian Action/GC and the Minister of Transport, and of the Italian representation with the interventions of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Italian Ambassador in Niger.
The testimonies of local actors will be important to understand the great usefulness of the project’s operational tools and to what extent they have been a factor of change and innovation in the local management of the major risks present in the project’s intervention area: floods and droughts.

The post Anadia 2.0: Final Event appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

Read More

The post Anadia: RISD 2021 On line Conference appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

Turning climate information into value for traditional Mediterranean agri-food systems

MED-GOLD project has the aim to translate state-of-the-art climate data and climate predictions — at the seasonal timescale and beyond — into easily accessible, valuable information for a wide range of end-users in the agriculture sector.
In the project framework, an online training event, MED-GOLD Living La, will take place from 27 May – 24 June 2021.

This online event is dedicated to early-career scientists and professionals in the areas of climate science, agriculture, business strategy, social sciences and communication.

The Structure of the event

9 sessions – 5 plenaries and 4 hands-on sessions – over five weeks, with periodic activities delivered by speakers across different disciplines relevant to the development and implementation of climate services for the agriculture sector, including climate modelling, agriculture and user engagement.
Download: the first draft of the programme of lessons and activities.

Who is it for

Early-career scientists and professionals with a wide range of individual profiles are encouraged to apply and join the multidisciplinary teams: climate scientists, agronomists, software developers (R, Python), social scientists, and communication experts. Participants will learn about concepts and methodologies used to develop climate services.
The maximum number of participants is 25.

Link: Information and registration for Living Lab.

No registration fee required.

The post MED-GOLD Living Lab 27 May – 24 June 2021 appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.

L’atelier a l’objectif de faire le point avec les parties prenantes sur la campagne 2020, en tirer les leçons apprises et identifier les points faibles à adresser pour a prochaine campagne 2021.

A l’atelier, organisé par la Direction de la Météorologie Nationale du Niger, participent les partenaires nationaux du projet ANADIA2.0 ainsi que les Maires, les agents techniques et les responsables des radios rurales des huit communes pilotes, notamment Tounouga, Tessa, Kieché, Guéchémé et Falmey ans la Région de Dosso et Namaro, Ouroguéladjo et Gotheye dans la Région de Tillabéry.

Le Projet ANADIA2 dans les Communes Pilotes (Vieri Tarchiani, IBE-CNR)

L’évaluation d’impact de l’assistance agrométéorologique (Oumarou Idrissa, INRAN)

Les prévisions agro météorologiques à échéance de 10 jours (Ousmane Baoua, DMN et Maurizio Bacci, IBE-CNR)

La remontée des données avec Kobotoolbox (Carlotta Zini, IBE-CNR et Hamsatou Hassane, DMN)

The post Niger: atelier assistance agro-météo campagne 2020 et lancement campagne 2021 appeared first on climateservices.it CNR-IBE.