The Fifth International Conference on Climate Services (ICCS5) was held from 28 February to 2 March 2017 in Cape Town. It aimed at providing a platform for researchers, stakeholders, politicians, practitioners and users of climate services, to discuss the latest developments, innovations and capacity development needs in the climate service sector.
The conference was attended by more than 240 participants from all over the world. In various plenary sessions, oral and poster sessions, as well as the Market Place, the attendees used the opportunity to assess and discuss the various perspectives and dimensions as well as the potential and challenges of climate services. SASSCAL was represented by various scientific contributions, showcasing the SASSCAL WeatherNet, the Rainfall App and a joint project effort with the CSIR to improve the Extreme Climate Index which is funded through the African Risk Capacity (ARC) (the presentation by Dr Prof Jörg Helmschrot can be viewed here). In addition, a session on regional and trans-national projects related to climate services was chaired by the SASSCAL Director of Science and Technology. Together with WASCAL, an information stand on the two African science service centres was set up at the Conference Market Place.
The ICCS5 was organised jointly by the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) at the University of Cape Town and the Climate Service Partnership (CSP) secretariat at the Climate Service Centre Germany (GERICS). The Conference was funded through the BMBF, the World Bank and SEI.