The Department of Risk & Disaster Management – DRDM represented Seychelles at the Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forum (SARCOF-32), held in Mbabane, Kingdom of Eswatini, from 26th to 30th January 2026. This year’s theme was “Closing the Early Warning Gap Together within the SADC Region.”
The forum brought together climate, environment, and disaster management experts to produce and disseminate the consensus regional climate outlook for the 2025/26 rainfall season, enhance early warning capacity, and foster inter-agency collaboration across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
Seychelles was represented by Ms. Jade Landry (DRDM) and three representatives from the Seychelles Meteorological Authority (SMA)—Mr. Adam Sindo, Ms. Rose Nkatha, and Ms. Constance Ajiambo—who contributed to the forum’s achievements, including:
- Reviewing and verifying the October to December 2025 seasonal forecast.
- Generating seasonal outlooks for overlapping sub-seasons from February to June 2026.
- Fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange among regional experts to adopt best practices in early warning, climate-smart planning, and develop impact-based advisories.
Participation in SARCOF-32 strengthened Seychelles’ understanding of regional climate trends and reinforced collaboration with regional partners, enhancing national preparedness for climate variability and extreme events.
The forum was organised by the SADC Climate Services Centre (SADC-CSC), with technical and financial support from the United Kingdom Meteorological Office’s WISER Programme, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and in collaboration with the Eswatini Meteorological Service.
