From Forecasts to Farm Decisions: ENANDES Builds Andean Climate Resilience

Chile developed Participatory Agroclimatic Forums in the Aconcagua River basin, bringing farmers and specialists together to establish a shared language around forecasts and climate risk.

Climate forecasts become valuable when farmers, public agencies and local businesses can understand them and use them before droughts, floods or changing seasons cause serious damage. The ENANDES project, formally known as Enhancing the Adaptive Capacity of Andean Communities through Climate Services, has shown how scientific information can become a practical resource when meteorological agencies build services alongside the people making daily decisions. Coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization and funded by the Adaptation Fund, the initiative worked across Chile, Colombia and Peru, leaving behind stronger institutions, improved forecasting tools and community-led approaches that can serve the wider Andean region.

Climate information shaped around local lives

ENANDES placed dialogue at the heart of climate-service development, giving farmers, Indigenous communities, researchers, government institutions and businesses opportunities to explain what information they needed and how it should be delivered. This approach replaced one-way communication with shared design, allowing scientific forecasts to reflect farming calendars, local knowledge, economic activities and the climate risks faced in specific territories.

In Colombia's Cauca region, cooperation between the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies and farming and Indigenous organizations created Community Agroclimatic Forums where scientific forecasts could be discussed alongside local experience. More than 1,100 people participated in 28 sessions, contributing to bulletins that translated technical agroclimatic and hydrometeorological information into guidance connected with local planting cycles and community early-warning systems.

Seven Farmer Field Schools carried that knowledge into everyday practice by training 568 people and supporting 109 adaptation measures. Communities introduced rainwater-harvesting systems, protected gardens, native seed banks, bio-input production facilities and energy-efficient stoves, showing how climate information can influence decisions that protect crops, household resources and rural livelihoods.

Chile developed Participatory Agroclimatic Forums in the Aconcagua River basin, bringing farmers and specialists together to establish a shared language around forecasts and climate risk. Collaboration with energy experts and universities produced tools for renewable-energy planning, while the CLIMTUR platform in Valparaíso gave tourism operators access to real-time climate information for planning safer and more sustainable activities.

Stronger data systems support faster decisions

Useful forecasts depend on reliable observation networks, historical records, trained specialists and systems capable of converting large volumes of data into timely warnings. Colombia's meteorological service recovered and digitized information from 63 stations, creating an inventory containing more than 10 million records. Technical teams also developed models covering 32 river basins and prepared a national drought-monitoring plan, strengthening the country's ability to understand emerging water risks.

Peru's National Meteorology and Hydrology Service expanded its risk-management capacity through PANDORA, an automated platform designed to monitor urban flooding and issue early warnings. The project also supported regional climate-change scenarios and strengthened Agroclimatic Technical Forums, giving authorities and communities better resources for preparing for conditions that may vary greatly between locations.

Regional cooperation was supported by the International Center for Research on the El Niño Phenomenon, which serves as the Regional Climate Centre for Western South America. Its work included consolidating a regional climate database, producing high-resolution climate projections and creating a Climate Service Toolkit that gathers useful methods for institutions across the Andes.

Evidence from Colombia suggests that these investments delivered measurable benefits. Project analysis found that 22% of participating households increased their income by 30% through the strategic use of climate information, while the share of people using such information within the territory rose from 87.6% to 97.6%. These findings show that the success of a climate service should be measured through changes in household choices and economic security, not simply by the number of forecasts produced.

Regional cooperation enters a wider new phase

Participation by rural and Indigenous communities allowed knowledge rooted in the land to influence the services developed through ENANDES. Representatives of the Mapuche, Diaguita and Aymara peoples joined activities in Chile, helping institutions recognise that different communities experience and interpret climate risks in distinct ways. The project also identified the need for deeper involvement by women, young people, older residents and persons with disabilities so future services are accessible and representative.

The three countries encountered shared challenges involving observation networks, data integration, institutional capacity and dependable financing. Their experience demonstrated that meteorological services, regional centres, universities, public bodies, productive sectors and communities can build stronger climate resources when they combine expertise, infrastructure and local understanding.

National closing events marked the completion of the initial ENANDES phase, yet its model is already expanding through ENANDES+. Coordinated by WMO, the new regional initiative will include Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina alongside Chile, Colombia and Peru. The growing partnership carries forward a clear lesson from the first phase: climate resilience is created through continuous cooperation, trusted information and decisions shaped by the people who live with climate risk every day.