00:06For many Ethiopian farmers, modern climate early warning systems and even regular weather
00:12updates are not part of their daily life.
00:16We sometimes get weather updates from the media.
00:19Some of us hear it on the radio, others see it on TV if they have one.
00:23But mostly, we rely on the traditional knowledge we learned from our fathers.
00:27Yet, if, for example, the radio tells us the rainy season will be short, we'll be quick to sow.
00:35The Ethiopian Meteorological Institute has been working to close that gap.
00:40And now, equipped with Mazu, the Chinese-built multi-hazard climate early warning system,
00:45it is positioned to do even better.
00:48Ethiopia's journey with Mazu began two years ago when the country sent its climate experts to Beijing
00:54for a year-long training.
00:56Following the conclusion of the training, climate scientists from China's Meteorological Administration
01:03arrived here in Addis Ababa to help deploy the system.
01:07Now less than a year in, Ethiopia's Meteorological Institute says the results are already positive.
01:14At Ethiopia's Meteorological Institute, when we generate learning information as well as prediction systems,
01:20we are using just one or two inputs in order to generate a certain forecast.
01:27However, through the Mazu system, it has different data sources.
01:31So the main purpose of the Mazu is just predicting rainfall information, predicting extreme event
01:38information, and alerting different stakeholders in order to minimize the impact and promoting
01:44resilient societies as well as resilient economies.
01:47So we are really positively benefiting from the Mazu system.
01:51According to Tashome, the system has cut the time it takes to generate and assemble climate information
01:57from various data sources from one to two days to just an hour.
02:02Beyond faster forecasts, Mazu also maps which parts of the country are most vulnerable to
02:08droughts, floods, and other climate-related disasters.
02:11We successfully predicted the Illino phenomena of this year in the last May 2026.
02:17It has a potential positive impact as well as negative impact on agriculture, water, environment,
02:22and other socioeconomic issues.
02:25Actually, the Mazu system will predict the short-term forecasting.
02:31It will also indicate the probability of the seasonal forecasting.
02:36So this means we indirectly used the product of the Mazu in order to predict the seasonal forecast.
02:45The Mazu system came with high-tech AI-enabled workstation computers and access to the Feng
02:50Yun meteorological satellites operated by the China Meteorological Administration.
02:56For now, Mazu is being used here for short-range forecasting, but Ethiopia's Meteorological Institute
03:02says discussions are underway to expand it to longer-range and extended climate forecasting.
03:08Ethiopia is among the first countries in Africa to fully deploy the system, and the hope is
03:13that it will share the experience with meteorological agencies across the continent.
