Read More - Philippine Institute for Development Studies

5
Learning the basics
Dr. John Mullen is research leader for Economics
Coordination and Evaluation at the NSW/DPI and adjunct
professor at the Faculty of Rural Management at the
University of Sydney. He is involved in the review of
methods for valuing SCF and in the proposed case study
in the rangelands of NSW.
University of Sydney
The Faculty of Rural Management has research strengths
in agribusiness, farming systems and natural resource
management. Improvements in the availability and use
of seasonal climate forecasts clearly impact on all three of
these areas. Its web address is http://www.csu.edu.au/.
Professor Kevin Parton is dean of the Faculty of Rural
Management. He will concentrate on the relationships
between the economics and psychology approaches to
decisionmaking and valuation of SCF. Professor Parton will
be involved in policy case studies in both Australia and
the Philippines.
Jason Crean is a postgraduate student at the
University of Sydney and is currently undertaking a PhD
on the value of climate forecasting in selected farming
systems in eastern Australia. He has expertise in the
economic modelling of farming systems and will be
involved in the policy and farm level case studies in
Australia. (SCF Project Updates June 2005)
Philippine weather and climate 101
In a forum on Basic Climatology Concepts and
Information organized by the Philippine Institute
for Development Studies (PIDS), in collaboration
with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and
Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Leyte
State University (LSU), on April 21 under the project on
seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) funded by the Australian
Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), a
team of climate experts and researchers from PAGASA
briefed an audience of technical and policy-level
representatives from various government agencies and
members of the academe on certain basic concepts and
information about Philippine weather and climate. The
briefings included a compehensive lecture on the El Niño
phenomenon—its definition, characteristics, evolution,
and tools of prediction, among others.
The forum is only the first of a series of fora to be
conducted by the abovementioned institutions under the
four-year ACIAR-funded project and is part of the
information, education, and communication component
of the project to help people have a better understanding
of the effects of certain climatic events and conditions
like the El Niño phenomenon and how to respond to them.
In his lecture on the El Niño event, for instance, Mr.
Ernesto Verceles, a weather specialist from PAGASA,
explained that while the El Niño is a phenomenon that
occurs in a specific point in the eastern equatorial Pacific
Ocean—which is quite a distance away from the
Philippines—its effects and impact are nonetheless felt
in the country because of the interactions between the
ocean surface temperature effect and the overlying
atmosphere in the tropical Pacific region. This interaction
is better known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
While there is no way that an El Niño and its effects
may be stopped, efforts in research and prediction
modelling may, however, help improve the capacity to
understand the phenomenon and the reliability of
forecasts about the onset of the El Niño, thereby helping
to prepare for it. In the Philippines, PAGASA will play a big
role in providing more reliable SCFs to guide various
stakeholders, more specifically the farm sector. It is
expected that from case studies to be done in different
regions in the country, PAGASA will be in a position to
better match forecasts with decisionmakers’ needs,
thereby closing the gap between actual and potential
values of SCF.
Finally, during the forum, the difference between
weather and climate was explained. Weather is a specific
condition of the atmosphere at a particular time and
space while climate is the average weather for a longer
period of time. The various elements or factors affecting
the weather and/or climate as well as the different climate
types in the various regions of the Philippines were also
presented and discussed. As a supplement, the PAGASA
also gave an outlook of the climate in the Philippines for
the next three months. (SCF Project Updates June 2005)