Instigating Programs

Weather Info for All (WIFA) is a public-private partnership to ensure availability of reliable weather information to vulnerable communities affected by climate change.

WIFA is one of our core practical initiatives. It addresses the longstanding deficit in the amount and reliability of weather information that is gathered and available in poor communities around the world. Many such communities once relied exclusively on traditional knowledge, handed down over generations, to assess and take decisions related to the weather. Climate change is disrupting natural weather patterns and slowly eating away at key natural resources linked to the weather, such as water supply. Storms, floods and drought are also increasing in their severity and unpredictability.

All this undermines traditional knowledge creating a great need for better weather information. In many regions, however, the weather information gap is large: Africa has less than eight times the WMO minimum recommended size network for weather monitoring. Learn more about how the WIFA project aims to address this gap.

A research initiative for mobilizing adaptation projects in fragile areas of the Drylands.

The so-called “Drylands” of the North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia – regions already beset by water stress, environmental degradation and demographic pressures – is one of the most climate stressed zones on the planet. The area is also home to other important problems, such as poverty, malnutrition and socio-political instabilities.

Measures can nevertheless be taken to adapt to these changes, but action is hampered by a lack of information and analysis of the complex interplay of problems at hand.

This project seeks to fill that gap: it will carry out research and compile data on the impact of climate change in the Drylands region, identify the most effective means for populations to adapt, and support the implementation of these solutions.

Strategic partners include the Office of HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, UN Messenger of Peace and Forum Board member, and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York.

A project to launch a unique global study on Energy for the Poor

Energy poverty holds back the poor. It limits their working hours and their social activities to daylight hours. It damages their health and welfare: how can you store food and medicines without refrigeration? How can you read or study without light in the evening?

Yet today 1.6 billion people have no access to modern forms of energy whatsoever. This holds back progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals encompass the world’s main development challenges, such as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability.

A global study will determine the energy needs of the poor, paving the way for effective solutions and advocacy to support their introduction. Solutions are already emerging in some developing countries where enterprising individuals are finding ‘low-tech’ ways to generate energy, such as hand-cranked rather than battery-operated radios. However, the gravity of the energy poverty situation is yet to be comprehensively tackled.