This March 2025 in Bangui, Central African Republic, through its Ministry of Transport, hosted the twentieth PRESAC-20 workshop, coordinated by the African Union Commission (AUC) Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy (SEBE) Directorate under its Meteorology unit, the Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications (ClimSA) Programme. This seasonal workshop aims to support the Central African Region (ECCAS) in organizing the Central African Seasonal Climate Prediction Forum (PRESAC). Diverse climate information parties came together to produce the seasonal forecast for the Central African Region as a guidance to March, April and May 2025 climate forecast.

The workshop was officially inaugurated by Mr. Rodrigue Aymard Lelong, Director of Meteorology of the Central African Republic (CAR), along with Mr. Semingar Ngaryamngaye, representing the ECCAS Commissioner, Dr. Ousmane Ndiaye, Director General of the African Centre for Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), and Mr. Atupele Mwakalinga, representing the AUC ClimSA Programme Coordinator.

‘Socio-Economic Benefits Resilient Development to Climate Risks in Central Africa’ was the theme of PRESAC 20. To push the message that climatic risks are remarked across socio-economic sectors of agriculture and food security, disaster risk reduction, water, health, energy and forestry. The development of a resilient approach creates a lot of benefits to mitigate the risks. The regional outlook forum provides a strong foundation for development, discussion and sharing of experiences in climate services to which its outcome is the expectations of the coming climate in three months. The climate outlook forum is a forum between climate information producers and users in order for resilient development.

PRESAC is organized with the financial support of the 11th European Development Fund through the ClimSA Programme as part of the collaborative agreement with the AUC to implement the ClimSA in sub-Saharan Africa.

During the closing of the four days workshop, on behalf of Director of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy (SEBE) Directorate, Dr. Jolly Wasambo, AUC ClimSA programme coordinator, conveyed the his message by acknowledging the progress of the rich city of Bangui and thanked the CAR Ministry of Transport through the Director of Meteorology for offering in 2024 to host this important seasonal workshop. He continued by commending the ECCAS Secretariat as the Regional Economic Community (REC) for supporting the coordination, also acknowledging the great technical support of ACMAD as Africa's continental RCC and the AESA consortium for making the RCOF possible.

“The citizens of Central African Countries look to the Regional Climate Outlook Forum, as a platform that provides great hope in ensuring communities, governments, and local organizations are better equipped to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to climate-related variabilities to mitigate climate risks.” He concluded by assuring ECCAS that AUC is with them in the interventions of foresting sustainable development through climate information.

AUCs impact:
The 20th Regional Climate Outlook Forum (PREASC-20) had multiple parallel meetings with different experts. It was conducted from 03 to 13 March 2025 where 3-8 March was the Virtual Online Pre-forum, 10-12 was the technical experts workshop, and finally on 13 March was the Forum where the consolidated Forecast report was read out to the participants to then take it back to their home countries for purpose of downscaling the information.

 10 /11 Member States attended the forum.
 20 experts from the ECCAS region (1 Meteorologist and 1 Hydrologist attended from each member state).
 11 User Interface Platform users attended from the host country’s invitation to the workshop (Central African Republic) for the purpose of knowledge sharing and testimonials.
 2 Regional Climate Centers supported the technical and coordination efforts to the success of the forum (AGRHYMET and ACMAD both from Niger).
 Seasonal Forecast for March-April-May 2025 and April-May-June 2025

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For further information, please contact:
Dr. Jolly Wasambo I AUC ClimSA Programme Coordinator | Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy Directorate | African Union Commission | E-mail: wasamboj@africa-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia|
Ms. Diana Chacha I Communication | Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy | African Union Commission | E-mail: chacha@africa-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia|

Media Contact:
Mr. Molalet Tsedeke | Media and Communication Officer| Information and Communication Directorate| African Union Commission | Email: MolaletT@africa-union.org; WhatsApp: +251-911-630 631