In the spirit of identifying areas of collaboration and creating synergies with other initiatives as encouraged by the European Commission, we introduce you to CONFER and DOWN2EARTH.

These two projects were funded under the same European Commission call and both coordinators participated in our kick-off meeting briefly presenting their respective projects. Learn more about them below:

CONFER

Coordinator: Erik Wilhem Kolstad (NORCE, Norway)
Focus area: East Africa (11 countries)
Main objective: To co-develop dedicated climate services for the water, energy and food security sectors with stakeholders and end-users, to enhance their ability to plan and adapt to seasonal climate fluctuations. The project will co-produce at least three new climate services based on the needs that will be identified from the users. Some preliminary applications include: planning tools for hydropower operator, flood risk early warning system, etc.

DOWN2EARTH

Coordinator: Michael Singer (Cardiff University)
Background: In the DOWN2EARTH project, the idea is to bring the climate information down to the ground level where it impacts people life and also translate the climate change information and forecast into useful information that can be used by different people.
Focus area: Horn of Africa Drylands (HAD)
Main objective: The project will address the multi-faceted challenges of water scarcity and food insecurity under climate change by facilitating community-centred adaptation and resilience to climate change impacts. It will use a multidisciplinary approach bringing together local community, academic expert, novel decision support tools, etc.