Italy and Africa Join Forces to Boost Forecasting and Climate Risk Resilience

The latest effort was showcased during the international meeting “International Cooperation in Applied Meteorology for Reducing Hydroclimatic Risks,” held on 14 October 2025 in Florence, Italy.

Italian scientific and meteorological institutions are deepening their partnership with African counterparts to strengthen weather forecasting, climate services, and early-warning systems across some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable regions. Against a backdrop of escalating floods, droughts, and heatwaves intensified by climate change, these collaborations aim to equip African national meteorological services with cutting-edge scientific tools, improved operational capacity, and long-term institutional support.

The latest effort was showcased during the international meeting “International Cooperation in Applied Meteorology for Reducing Hydroclimatic Risks,” held on 14 October 2025 in Florence, Italy. Organized by the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) and the LaMMA Consortium, the event brought together Italian and African meteorological agencies, international organizations, climate researchers, and development partners — including contributions from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Italy’s Aeronautica Militare.

Climate Impacts Intensifying in the Sahel

Climate change is dramatically amplifying the severity of weather extremes worldwide. The consequences are especially stark in the Sahel, one of the regions most exposed to climate hazards and where communities already face high socio-economic vulnerability. Seasonal floods, prolonged droughts, and deadly heatwaves regularly disrupt agriculture, livelihoods, infrastructure, and food security.

To address these growing threats, Italian institutions and African meteorological services are accelerating joint scientific efforts to enhance early-warning systems and improve real-time forecasting — the backbone of disaster preparedness.

A Long Tradition of Scientific Cooperation

For more than 40 years, Italy’s CNR has been deeply engaged in research, capacity building, and technology transfer throughout Africa, particularly through WMO’s Regional Training Centre in Italy (WMO-RTC Italy). This long-standing collaboration has supported African meteorologists, climatologists, hydrologists, and agrometeorologists through technical training, research partnerships, and operational support.

The Florence meeting highlighted the evolution of these partnerships and underscored the need for even closer cooperation to meet rising climate risks across the continent.

Spotlight on the SLAPIS Sahel Project

One of the most significant initiatives presented at the event was SLAPIS Sahel, a program 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.

SLAPIS Sahel focuses on:

• Strengthening meteorological forecasting chains

• Enhancing hydrometeorological early-warning services tailored to local contexts

• Investing heavily in human capacity development

• Integrating advanced modeling tools such as MOLOCH and WRF

• Reinforcing data management and IT infrastructure for real-time prediction

The program emphasizes sustainability by ensuring African forecasters, analysts, and IT specialists receive hands-on training both in Italy and within their home countries.

Building Resilience Through Science, Trust, and Cooperation

The Florence event also featured the signing of new cooperation agreements between Italian and African institutions — reaffirming long-term commitment far beyond short project cycles.

As CNR stated during the event, “Climate change and natural disasters represent a common challenge at all latitudes.” Therefore, international cooperation is not optional but essential, especially as vulnerable countries face the brunt of climate extremes.

LaMMA echoed this message, noting: “Operational meteorology and international cooperation go hand in hand when it comes to protecting lives and livelihoods.”

By sharing expertise and leveraging collective scientific capacity, Italy, Niger, and Burkina Faso are helping shape a global effort to make meteorological services more reliable, inclusive, and action-oriented.

Turning Forecasting Into Foresight

Initiatives like the Florence meeting reflect a broader international movement to shift from reactive disaster response to proactive resilience building. By improving forecasting accuracy and strengthening early-warning systems, communities can prepare earlier, reduce losses, protect agriculture, and better manage water resources.

All presentations from the event are available to partners and participants, providing valuable insights into best practices, innovation pathways, and future collaboration opportunities.

Capacity-Building Mission in Burkina Faso

Following the Florence meeting, a capacity-building mission was organized in Ouagadougou from 3 to 7 November 2025 as part of the SLAPIS Sahel project. The mission focused specifically on strengthening high-resolution Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) capabilities in Burkina Faso.

Driven by growing interest from the meteorological services of both Niger and Burkina Faso, the mission provided technical training on adopting and operationalizing the MOLOCH convection-permitting weather model — a state-of-the-art tool developed by the National Research Council of Italy.

The mission equips national experts with the skills needed to run advanced models, interpret outputs, and integrate high-resolution forecasts into national early-warning systems — directly improving preparedness for extreme weather events.

A Global Model for Climate Cooperation

At a time when climate extremes are increasing across all continents, the Italy–Africa meteorological partnership demonstrates how science-driven collaboration can translate forecasting into foresight, and foresight into resilience. By pooling knowledge, strengthening institutions, and empowering local experts, these initiatives help build safer, more climate-resilient communities across the Sahel and beyond.