ACToday: Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow

After five years, Columbia World Projects (CWP) and Columbia Climate School’s International Research Institute for Climate & Society (IRI) celebrate the successes of our project, Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today, for Tomorrow (ACToday) project.

Watch below to hear the lessons learned, keys to success, and what happens next.

Summary

Using climate knowledge to improve food security and combat hunger

ACToday, the first Columbia World Project, active from November 2017 through June 2022, aimed to combat hunger in six countries that are particularly dependent on agriculture and vulnerable to the effects of climate change and fluctuations: Bangladesh, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Senegal and Vietnam.

The project achieved this by building systems to ensure that meteorological agencies in those countries can produce the most accurate climate information and that individuals and institutions in the agricultural sector have access to that knowledge—and can use it to grow more food to feed more people.

Photo of young man sowing the field before the plow in Ethiopia

The project focused on ensuring that relevant forecasts make it into the hands of farmers who can use them to predict both extreme weather that could damage agriculture, as well as favorable conditions that could lead to good harvests.

The ACToday team of researchers from Columbia Climate School’s International Research Institute for Climate & Society (IRI) brought expertise in climate science, nutrition and sustainable development. The team worked in partnership with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture & Food Security (CCAFS), the World Food Programme, the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Bank and others.

Tools developed by ACToday are directly enabling the World Food Programme to reach its target of ensuring that one million smallholder farmers have affordable insurance by 2022. ACToday has held more than 110 trainings in six countries, reaching over 2,150 participants since the project began in 2017. The trainings have helped stakeholders in ACToday countries develop climate forecasts and mapping tools and to use these tools for more effective national food security planning and policy.

In Partnership With:

In Detail

As of June 30, 2022, ACToday has been successful in completing the project activities around the world. Our report on the project's progress takes a close look at some of our activities and accomplishments. For more information on this project, contact [email protected].

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Statistics

2,150+

participants have taken part in ACToday trainings
110+

trainings in six countries have been led by ACToday to foster enhanced food security planning and policy
6

All six ACToday countries have adopted new ACToday-supported forecasting systems in their national meteorological agencies and an additional 10 countries have requested similar enhancements

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Go Deeper

Attachments:

Summary Project Report

Publications:

KEY: Country or Cross-cutting – Research Type – Citation
ACToday – Book chapter – Braun, M., Alabweh, Z., Curtis, A., Dinku, T., Furlow, J., González Camaño, E., Gonzalez Romero, C., Grossi, A., Kruczkiewicz, A., & Muñoz, A. (2022). Embedding Climate Science Research into Policy and Practice: IRI's Climate Services Academies Approach. In R. Iyengar & O. Karadag Caman (Eds.), Rethinking Education for Sustainable Development: Research, Policy and Practice. Bloomsbury Academic.
ACToday – Peer review publication (Published) – Hansen, J., List, G., Downs, S., Carr, E., Diro, R., Baethgen, W., ... & Magima, N. (2022). Impact pathways from climate services to SDG2 (“zero hunger”): A synthesis of evidence. Climate Risk Management, 100399.
ACToday – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Goddard, González Romero and Muñoz … (2020). Climate Services Ecosystems in times of COVID19. WMO Bulletin. https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/bulletin/climate-services-ecosystems-times-of-covid-19
Bangladesh – Manuscript developed – Acharya, N.; Faniriantsoa, R.; Rashid, B.; Sultana, R.; Montes, C.; Dinku, T.; Hassan, S. Developing High-Resolution Gridded Rainfall and Temperature Data for Bangladesh: The ENACTS-BMD Dataset. Preprints 2020, 2020120468 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202012.0468.v1). https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202012.0468/v1 .
Bangladesh – Manuscript developed – Singh B., Islam S., Ehsan M.A., Mason, S.J., Robertson, A.W. Subseasonal Prediction of Pre-Monsoon Heavy Rainfall Events over Bangladesh.
Bangladesh – Manuscript developed – Ehsan M.A., Tippett M.K., Robertson, A.W., Singh B., Mason S., et al. ENSO fingerprint on the Bangladesh Summer Monsoon Rainfall.
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Published) – Kelley, C., Acharya, N., Montes, C., Krupnik, T. J., Mannan, M., & Hassan, S. M. (2020). Exploring the predictability of within-season rainfall statistics of the Bangladesh monsoon using North American Multimodel Ensemble outputs. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 141(1), 495-508.
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Published) – Nissan, H, Muñoz, A and Mason, S. (2020). Targeted model evaluations for climate services: a case study on heat waves in Bangladesh, Climate Risk Management, 28:100213 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crm.2020.100213
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Published) – Montes C., Acharya N.,S.M.Q. Hassan 2020: Assessing the performance of satellite-based products for monitoring extreme rainfall events in Bangladesh, Dew Drop. [Also- Montes, C.; Acharya, N.; Hassan, Q. Assessing the Performance of Satellite-Based Products for Monitoring Extreme Rainfall Events in Bangladesh. Preprints 2021, 2021040585 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202104.0585.v1). ]
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Published) – Montes, C., Acharya, N., Hossain, P. R., Babu, T. A., Krupnik, T. J., & Hassan, S. Q. (2022). Developing a framework for an early warning system of seasonal temperature and rainfall tailored to aquaculture in Bangladesh. Climate Services, 26, 100292.
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Published) – Mason, S., Krupnik, T., Hansen, J., Braun, M., Curtis, A., Han, E., Hussain, S.G., Khan, M. S. K., Mannan, A., & Kruczkiewicz, A. (2022). Re-prioritizing climate services for agriculture: insights from Bangladesh. Accepted by Climate Services. Climate Services, 27, 100306, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2022.100306
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Manscript complete (revise and resubmit): Acharya, N., S. J. Mason, Á. G. Muñoz, T. Krupnik, S. Q. Hassan, R. Sultana, B. Rashid, and M. Abdul. (2020). On the seasonal prediction of Bangladesh summer monsoon rainfall.
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Pabari, Karamanolakis, Tellman, Islam, de Bruijn, Thomas. (submitted) Spatio-Temporal Flood Event Extraction from News Media to Support Satellite-Based Flood Insurance. Submitted to Proceedings of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
Bangladesh – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Han, E., Carlo Montes, Sk. Ghulam Hussain and Timothy J. Krupnik. On the Utility of Agronomic Monsoon Onset Definitions for Rainfed Aman Rice in Bangladesh: Insights from ex-ante Crop Simulations. Submitted to Climate Services in early June, 2022
Bangladesh – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Tellman, B. (2019). Flood Index Insurance in Bangladesh: examining data for indices for five types of floods. Draft scoping document.
CIEA – Book chapter – Fleming, G., Kruczkiewicz, A., Rogers, D., & Pinder, N. (2021). Partnerships – The importance of collaboration in improving impact-based forecast and warning services. In WMO Guidelines on Multi-hazard Impact-based Forecast and Warning Services - Part II: Putting Multi-hazard IBFWS into Practice (2021 edition). World Meteorological Organization Secretariat.
CIEA – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Kruczkiewicz, A., & Ouni, S. (August, 2020). Contingency Framework: Exploring Enabling Environments of Climate Informed Early Warning Early Action (EWEA): Baseline Guidance Document for the Humanitarian and Development Communities. Prepared for WFP.
Climate – Peer review publication (Published) – Anderson, W. B., Seager, R., Baethgen, W., Cane, M., & You, L. (2019). Synchronous crop failures and climate-forced production variability. Science advances, 5(7), eaaw1976. (https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/7/eaaw1976).
Climate – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Kumar, A., J.P. Ceron, C. Coelho, L. Ferranti, R. Graham, D. Jones, W. Merryfield, Á.G. Muñoz, S. Pai, E. Rodríguez. (2020). Guidance on Operational Practices for Objective Seasonal Forecasting. Guidance prepared under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization Commission for Climatology (CCI) and Commission for Basic Systems (CBS). https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10314
Colombia – Manuscript developed – Hernandez-Aguilera JN, Mauerman M, Osgood D. 2020. Playing to Adapt: Crowdsourcing Historical Climate Data with Gamification to Improve Farmer’s Risk Management Instruments. Social Science Research Network 1-26.
Colombia – Peer review publication (Published) – Anderson, W., Muñoz, Á. G., Goddard, L., Baethgen, W., & Chourio, X. (2020). MJO teleconnections to crop growing seasons. Climate Dynamics, 54(3-4), 2203-2219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05109-0
Colombia – Peer review publication (Published) – Anderson, W. B., Han, E., Baethgen, W., Goddard, L., Muñoz, Á. G., & Robertson, A. W. (2020). The Madden‐Julian Oscillation Affects Maize Yields Throughout the Tropics and Subtropics. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(11), e2020GL087004. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087004
Colombia – Peer review publication (Published) – Ferrero, N., & Gonzalez Romero, C. (2020). Agricultura Climáticamente Inteligente (ACI) en Colombia: diagnóstico y retos de política pública, in Ed.s Cadena, X., & Fedesarrollo Coyuntura Económica: Investigación Económica y Social, 50(1-2), junio-diciembre page 210.
Colombia – Peer review publication (Published) – White, C. J., Domeisen, D. I., Acharya, N., Adefisan, E. A., Anderson, M. L., Aura, S., ... & Wilson, R. G. (2022). Advances in the application and utility of subseasonal-to-seasonal predictions. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103(6), E1448-E1472.
Colombia – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Muñoz, A. (2018). International workshop on predictability and prediction of onset and demise of rainy seasons and canícula/Mid-Summer Drought.
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – M. Bozzola, S. Charles, T. Ferretti, E. Gerakari, H. Manson, N. Rosser, P. von der Goltz, et al. (2021). The Coffee Guide. Chapter 7: The Commercial Aspects of the Coffee Trade. International Trade Centre, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.intracen.org/publications/Coffee-Guide/
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Acharya, N., Ehsan, M. A., Admasu, A., Teshome, A., & Hall, K. J. C. (2021). On the next generation (NextGen) seasonal prediction system to enhance climate services over Ethiopia. Climate Services, 24, 100272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2021.100272
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Grossi, A., & Dinku, T. (2022). Enhancing national climate services: How systems thinking can accelerate locally led adaptation. One Earth, 5(1), 74-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.12.007
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Dinku, T., Faniriantsoa, R., Cousin, R., Khomyakov, I., Vadillo, A., Hansen, J. W., & Grossi, A. (2022). ENACTS: Advancing Climate Services Across Africa. Frontiers in Climate, 176.; https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.787683
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Dinku, T., Faniriantsoa, R., Islam, S., Nsengiyumva, G., & Grossi, A. (2022). The Climate Data Tool: Enhancing Climate Services Across Africa. Frontiers in Climate, 185.; https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2021.787519
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Ehsan, M. A., Tippett, M. K., Robertson, A. W., Almazroui, M., Ismail, M., Dinku, T., ... & Teshome, A. (2021). Seasonal predictability of Ethiopian Kiremt rainfall and forecast skill of ECMWF's SEAS5 model. Climate Dynamics, 57(11), 3075-3091.
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Published) – Teshome, A., Zhang, J., Ma, Q., Zebiak, S. E., Dejene, T., Dinku, T., ... & Acharya, N. (2021). Skill Assessment of North American Multi-Models Ensemble (NMME) for June-September (JJAS) Seasonal Rainfall over Ethiopia. Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, 12(1), 54-73.
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Grossi A, Dinku T. From Research to Practice: Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today for Tomorrow in Ethiopia. Frontiers in Climate. Insights in Climate Services. 2022 (submitted).
Ethiopia – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Faniriantsoa R, Dinku T. ADT: Automatic Weather Station Data Tool. Frontiers in Climate. Insights in Climate Services. 2022 (submitted).
Ethiopia – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Ventocilla MC, Grossi A, Hernandez-Aguilera JN, Dinku T, Recha J, Ambaw G. 2020. Brewing resilience for Ethiopia’s smallholder coffee farmers: A closer look at Ethiopia’s coffee sector to help address climate information gaps. CCAFS Info Note. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/110123
Ethiopia – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Walsh, K., Diro, R., & Grossi, A. (June 2020). Climate Impacts on SDG2 in Ethiopia. Accessed:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1yUPJ-RbruQH-K219s2P84zjkvY1dBHqb
Ethiopia – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Dinku, T., Grossi, A., Teshome, A. (June 2020). Improvement of Seasonal and Sub-seasonal Forecasts in Ethiopia (report).
Ethiopia – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Public Report: Nsengiyumva, G., & Grossi, A., (June 2020). Inception Report: PICSA Implementation in Ethiopia.
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – White, C. J., Domeisen, D. I., Acharya, N., Adefisan, E. A., Anderson, M. L., Aura, S., ... & Wilson, R. G. (2021). Advances in the application and utility of subseasonal-to-seasonal predictions. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 1-57
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – Domeisen, D. I., White, C. J., Afargan-Gerstman, H., Muñoz, Á. G., Janiga, M. A., Vitart, F., ... & Tian, D. (2022). Advances in the subseasonal prediction of extreme events: Relevant case studies across the globe. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – Martinez, C. J., Muñoz, Á. G., Goddard, L. M., Kushnir, Y., & Ting, M. (2021, December). Seasonal Prediction of the Caribbean Rainfall Cycle. In AGU Fall Meeting 2021. AGU.
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – Sáenz S, F., Hidalgo, H. G., Muñoz, Á. G., Alfaro, E. J., Amador, J. A., & Vázquez‐Aguirre, J. L. Atmospheric Circulation Types Controlling Rainfall in the Central American Isthmus. International Journal of Climatology.
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – Muñoz, Á. G., Chourio, X., Rivière-Cinnamond, A., Diuk-Wasser, M. A., Kache, P. A., Mordecai, E. A., Harrington, L., & Thomson, M. C. (2020). AeDES: A next-generation monitoring and forecasting system for environmental suitability of Aedes-borne disease transmission. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 12640. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69625-4
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – DiSera, L., Sjödin, H., Rocklöv, J., Tozan, Y., Súdre, B., Zeller, H., & Muñoz, Á. G. (n.d.). The Mosquito, the Virus, the Climate: An Unforeseen Réunion in 2018. GeoHealth, 4(8), e2020GH000253. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GH000253
Guatemala – Peer review publication (Published) – Pons, D., Muñoz, Á. G., Meléndez, L. M., Chocooj, M., Gómez, R., Chourio, X., & Romero, C. G. (2021). A Coffee Yield Next-Generation Forecast System for Rain-Fed Plantations: The Case of the Samalá Watershed in Guatemala, Weather and Forecasting, 36(6), 2021-2038.
Guatemala – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Gonzalez Romero, C. (2019). 2018 Scoping mission in Guatemala: Food System, Stakheolder Analysis and Climate Services Analysis. IRI White Paper. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26548.07040.
LAC – Peer review publication (Published) – Becker, E. J., Kirtman, B. P., L’Heureux, M., Muñoz, Á. G., & Pegion, K. (2022). A Decade of the North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME): Research, Application, and Future Directions. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
LAC – Peer review publication (Published) – DeMott, C. et al. (2021) ‘The Benefits of Better Ocean Weather Forecasting’, Eos. American Geophysical Union (AGU), 102. doi: 10.1029/2021eo210601.
LAC – Peer review publication (Published) – Fernandes, K., Bell, M., & Muñoz, Á. G. (2022). Combining precipitation forecasts and vegetation health to predict fire risk at subseasonal timescale in the Amazon. Environmental Research Letters.
Senegal – Peer review publication (Accepted) – Osgood D, Ouni S, Blakely SL, Enenkel M, Lebel T, Giannini A. 2022 Jan 27. Climate variability through the lens of applied weather index insurance in Senegal–A novel perspective on the implications of decadal variation. Climate Services (submitted and accepted)
Senegal – Peer review publication (Accepted) – Downs, S., Grossi, A., Daouda, M., Singh, Pranav;,Pei, L., Forane, S. E., Trzaska, S. (2022). A systematic framework to identify climate service entry points for Sustainable Development Goal 2. UN Nutrition Journal. Accepted June 30, 2022.
Senegal – Peer review publication (Accepted) – Downs, S. (2022). The role of climate services to help transform nutrition. UN Nutrition Journal. Accepted June 30, 2022.
Senegal – Peer review publication (Published) – Nsengiyumva, G.; Dinku, T.; Cousin, R.; Khomyakov, I.; Vadillo, A.; Faniriantsoa, R.; Grossi, A. Transforming Access to and Use of Climate Information Products Derived from Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations. Remote Sens. 2021, 13, 4721. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13224721
Senegal – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Hansen J, Born L, Dossou-Yovo E, Mwongera C, Dalaa M, Tahidu O, Whitbread A, Solomon D, Zougmoré R, Zebiak S, Dinku T, Grossi A. Country-Specific Challenges to Improving Effectiveness, Scalability and Sustainability of Agricultural Climate Services in Africa. Frontiers in Climate. 2022. (submitted)
Senegal – Peer review publication (Submitted) – Siebert, A., P. Ryser, D. Ndiaye, M. L. Diop, A. Mbengue, A. Sal, O. Konte, O. Ndiaye, S. Trzaska, A. W. Robertson, J. Hansen, B. Singh, R. Cousin, R. Faniriantsoa. A Multi-Model Approach to Forecasting Seasonal Characteristics in Senegal, Submitted in December 2021 to Climate Services.
Senegal – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Osgood, D., Enenkel, M., Braun, M., Ouni, S., Blakeley, S., Lebel, T., Giannini, A., Trzaska, S. Climate variability through the lens of applied weather index insurance in Senegal–A novel perspective on the implications of decadal variation. Informed the scope of the newly-formed Microinsurance Network Climate Change and Food Security Best Practice Group which met on April 7, 2021 "What is the impact of climate change and climate trends in the design and pricing of index insurance products?" composed of insurance experts and partners from AXA, Hannover Re, ARC Ltd & SCOR.
Senegal – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Grossi, A. (March, 2020) Climate impacts on nutrition in Senegal. IRI White Paper: New York. Accessed: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1-43tXKA6iQKwrRKVeLS_LojDmbls8rpb
Senegal – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Dinh, D., Grossi, A., Trzaska, S., Ba, D., Nidaye, C., & Hansen, J. (2021). Climate Information for Food Security Sector in Senegal. https://iri.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Literature-Review_Climate-Impacts-on-Nutrition-in-Senegal_final_Sd_AG_clean2.pdf
Vietnam – Peer review publication (Published) – Acharya, N., & Bennett, E. (2021). Characteristic of the regional rainy season onset over Vietnam: tailoring to agricultural application. Atmosphere, 12(2), 198.
Vietnam – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Singh P, Huynh T, Downs S. 2020. Nutrition landscape and Climate in Vietnam: Identifying climate service entry points. CCAFS Working Paper no. 317. Wageningen, the Netherlands: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).
Vietnam – Public/disseminated white paper/ report – Tesfamariam Tekeste, Y. (2020) Analysis of Climate Variables and Avian Flu Outbreaks in Poultry: Vietnam. IRI White Paper: New York.