Summary

Significant advances in the implementation of climate services in South America have occurred in response to the challenge proposed by World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 2009 to expand and strengthen such climate services aimed at the public in general and key socioeconomic sectors, in particular. An evaluation of these advances, as well as their achievements, limitations, and own challenges is presented. The approach of this evaluation is based on the analysis of a representative set of climate services experiences in the region.

In general, South America has made considerable progress in conducting initiatives that operationally provide climate monitoring and prediction information, such as the WMO regional climate centers. There are also promising experiences of climate services in some regions and countries, aimed at sectors such as agriculture, water, and disaster risk management, among others. Likewise, the levels of climate predictability existing in various regions of the continent have allowed the development of regional seasonal prediction tools, which, in some cases, have been integrated with information on non-climatic factors to provide guidance oriented to specific sectors. Also, participatory frameworks engaging the different actors involved, including frameworks based on co-production strategies, ensure stronger appropriation of climate services by decision makers. Successful examples include the development of agro-climatic predictions to support decision-making and agricultural practices, hydroclimatic predictions to make decisions related to the generation and provision of electrical energy, and monitoring and prediction tools to prevent the vector-borne diseases.

However, a good portion of these efforts focuses mainly on the provision of climate services and not enough on their actual use. On the other hand, most efforts are under development and implementation through short- or medium-term projects. Therefore, the strengthening and growth of climate services in South America require the consolidation and expansion of not only the regional monitoring and prediction capacities, but also of the personnel and resources of the participating institutions in continuous linkage with the users.