CLIMTAG

Mitigating the impact of climate change and extreme weather requires adaptation of agricultural systems. Yet,actionable and region-specific climate information is often not easily accessible.

CLIMTAG^TM provides decision makers in the agro-sector with operational climate information. Offered agro-climate indicators are based on quality-assured climate data from the Copernicus Climate Data Store(CDS). Customized climate information for the past and future allows users to assess the severity of upcoming changes,design robust adaptation strategies, or compose strong applications for international climate funds.

CLIMTAG^TM offers customized agro-climate indicators at highresolution. The indicators are related to rainfall, temperature or crop calendars, and give for example information about the start of the rainy season or the duration of a drought period. Informationis based on ERA5 reanalysis climate reconstruction data and (bias-corrected) CMIP5 future climate projections.

CLIMTAG^TM operates at country level, with an interactive dashboard offering spatially explicit agro-climate information at 1km x 1km resolutionin a country-widemap. Users can explore within-season variability and future trends at district level in intuitive graphs, and download climate information for use in downstream applications.

CLIMTAG^TM aims to offer actionable information useful for impact assessment and adaptation planning. Indicators and user interface are designed and produced in a co-creation trajectory involving the developers at VITO (the Flemish Institute for Technological Research), agro-meteorology experts at ACMAD (the African Centre for Meteorological Applications for Development) and local stake holders. Target users include experts from National Meteorological Services, Ministries of Agriculture or staff of supporting organizations like FAO. User requirement analysis and stakeholder feedback shape the eagro-climate tool and service, so that it provides relevant climate information tailored to the needs of its users.

CLCLIMTAG^TM Africa currently offers agro-climate information for three African countries: Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. The pilot version was empowered by C3S (the Copernicus Climate Change Service) and ECMWF (the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts).

In 2021, CLCLIMTAG^TM Africa is being upscaled to more than 20 African countries and expanded with additional indicators and functionalities, supported by International Climate Funding from the Government of Flanders.