From droughts to floods, disasters pose a recurring threat to the lives and livelihoods of the over 24 million people who call Mali home. Droughts alone affect an average of 400,000 people each year. As climate change threatens to increase the frequency and intensify of disasters in Mali, the impacts on the country’s development prospects are only likely to worsen. Last year, devastating floods affected over 350,000 people, destroying thousands of granaries and warehouses and resulting in hundreds of thousands of hectares of agricultural land lost. 

The government of Mali recognizes that realizing a more resilient future will require continued progress on strengthening the country’s hydrometeorological (hydromet) services and early warning systems. Through the $33 million Strengthening Climate Resilience in Mali Project, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the World Bank have been steadfast partners in those efforts. GFDRR technical assistance was instrumental in the design and implementation of the project. 

A milestone accomplishment of the partnership with Mali has been the upgrading or installation of 49 meteorological stations and 38 hydrological stations. This has helped enable the delivery of hydromet services such as weather, water, and climate information to 3 million people. The work undertaken has included the installation of new sensors, the automation of stations, and enhancements to data collection software and hardware. 

In addition to expanding the reach of Mali’s hydromet services, these improvements have bolstered the timeliness and accuracy of forecasts made by preexisting meteorological and hydrological stations. Support provided under the project to help disseminate SOS Security—a mobile application for weather alerts and warnings that has been downloaded by 1 million Malians—has expanded the reach of Mali’s hydromet services even further. 

Moreover, Mali’s agrometeorological support system was also strengthened through the establishment of 36 community-based organizations that will assist in the delivery of weather advisories to the country’s vitally important, yet climate-vulnerable, agriculture sector. This system is expected to reach more farmers, who will now be able to make better-informed decisions on water and fertilizer management and harvest planning, among other farming practices critical to Mali’s agricultural productivity and food security. 

With an eye to ensuring the sustainability of these efforts, support has also been provided to strengthening the core hydromet expertise of key agencies responsible for weather and climate services in Mali. Over 2,000 officials have participated in training activities, including from the National Agency for Meteorology, the National Directorate for Water Resources, the General Directorate for Civil Protection, and the National Food Security Early Warning System. The last of these agencies recently merged with the Agricultural Market Observatory to form the Food and Nutrition Security Monitoring and Alert Agency. 

In addition to this country-level support, GFDRR and the World Bank are engaged in regional initiatives to strengthen hydromet in West Africa, including Mali. For example, support was recently provided to develop a new partnership between the Regional Climatic Center for West Africa and the Sahel and GloH2O, a private technology company that helps manage hydromet risks. Through this public-private engagement, the regional center is expected to enhance its flood monitoring capabilities by drawing upon GloH2O’s machine learning and satellite data weather and climate products.