Natural Hazards and Climate Change in Kenya: Minimizing the Impacts on Vulnerable Communities Through Early Warning Systems - Reducing Disaster: Early Warning Systems for Climate Change - page 351

Kenya
Meteorological Dept

National Disaster
Management Authority

Water Resource
Mgmt Authority

Rainfall stations

National Hydrological
Services

All stakeholders
and media

Disaster
Operations
Center

Chief Flood
Forecasting
Office (Nairobi)

National
Meteorological
Center

Future

Future Nyando & Sondu

(Ahero)

Nzola & Yala
(Busia)

Kuja/Migori
(Migori)

LEGEND

Disaster Mgmt
Committee

Disaster Mgmt
Committee

Disaster Mgmt
Committee

Information Flow =
Line of
Administrative
Control =

.

RANET
Transmission

RANET
Transmission

RANET
Transmission

Ranet Villages
Transmission

Fig. 19.2 Flood risk information and early warning system for the Lake Victoria Basin

as it seeks to connect rural poor areas with urban-based climate centers. Its two
major components are satellite download centers and community FM radio. Climate
information from satellite are downloaded by RANET servers at national level;
their content is formatted into usable information such as early warnings. It is then
disseminated to involved associations at the local level, such as farmer associations,
extension offi cers, cooperatives, and local NGOs, using Internet, community radio,
and mobile phone. Some components of RANET also address societal and com-
munication issues in order to foster the understanding of climate information among
rural communities and to allow application of the climate information product in
decision-making.
In all, RANET is essentially a small technology transfer program intended to reach
even the most isolated communities, and vulnerable actors, such as women who pro-
vide a high contribution to African agriculture. Although this initiative has been imple-
mented in various communities in, and even outside of, Africa for many years, it
remains a small-scale program, applied only in pilot communities (Sponberg K., 2013,
personal communication).
Local communities also use indigenous knowledge to mitigate climate-related
disasters through traditional early warning systems. Traditional weather indicators