Nyadzi Emmanuel is an Interdisciplinary research scientist, with extraordinary skill in combining both natural and social science research methods in understanding complex global problems branching out into regional, national and local scale. The primary goal of his career is to provide lasting, positive impact on society through research, teachings and writings, by focusing on real world problems and deploying solutions to these problems in practice. He is particularly keen at working on topics that have direct impact on human progress (Research for Development).
His academic work generally focus on the impact of global change on water, agricultural, natural ecological systems and society and He has expertise in:
- Climate Services(Seasonal Climate Forecast Verification and Usability)
- Climate Change Impact, Adaptation and Mitigation
- Hydro-climatology and Water Resources Management
- Agro-climatology and Crop Modeling /management
PhD thesis
Hydroclimatic Services for Adaptive Management of Water and Food Production in Ghana: the Value of Seasonal Climate Forecasting Systems and Virtual Platforms
Project description
In Ghana, climate variability and its effects on the agriculture sector is clearly evident as farmers, irrigated water managers and other stakeholders have to continuously adjust their activities to endure its impacts. Meteorological forecasting services has been in operation for some time in the country and provides mainly weather information on different variables but this according to farmers is insufficient to support their seasonal farm decisions making. Also, farmers rely on indigenous ecological knowledge to predict weather/climate patterns but are the first to recognize its limitations in terms of accuracy, timing and reliability. The objective of my project is to make seasonal climate forecast actionable for individual farmers, communities and irrigated water managers engaged in rice production in northern Ghana, using state-of-the-art European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast system 4 (ECMWF-S4) and digital tools. In this project, we seek to first study and then harmonize scientific and local knowledge to improve the output of seasonal climate forecast usability and further estimate the predictability of seasonal water availability using the seasonal climate forecast.
The unique approach in this research is the use of android digital tools and the inclusion of citizen science approach in hydroclimatic data and information exchange. This will address the argument that science should not be a one directional efforts, where it produces new knowledge and information and makes it accessible for end-users but rather interactive, where science and practice co-design, co-create and co-produce knowledge by bringing in different forms of expertise. The project will deliver the components and framework needed for the development of the hydroclimatic Environmental Virtual Observatories for Connective Action (hydroclimatic-EVOCA).