Here’s an interesting story from the BBC. It appears cell phone towers will now be used to collect climate data. Industry and NGO’s will partner together to install 5000 weather stations across the continent. Currently, there are less than 200.
According to Kofi Annan.
“The world’s poorest are also the world’s most vulnerable when it comes to the impact of climate change, and the least equipped to deal with its consequences. Today you find cell phone towers in almost every part of Africa. We have never been able to establish weather monitoring on that scale, until now.”
Makes sense, given that most of the continent relies on subsistence agriculture (more than 70 percent according to the BBC). Knowing when and if the rains are coming is essential. Unfortunately, at last check, the accuracy of weather data is dubious at best, at least in Toronto.
