EUPORIAS-AEMET workshop for the water sector.

 As part of their contribution to the project AEMET, CETAQUA and Met Office organised a workshop for the water sector. This took place at AEMET HQ in Madrid on March 18. The 30+ attendees, who mainly represented the regulators at national and regional level showed a great deal lof interest  for the  use of seasonal climate forecasts and their potential for improving water management in Spain.  During the break-out sessions the need for more frequent interactions between users and providers of climate services was highlighted. More frequent interaction means that climate predictions could be incorporated into planning , policy and practical activities.  It was recognised that seasonal climate predictions could be very useful for decision-making but the sector-expertise is often considered to be too weak to inform current decision making processes as stakeholders are not used to work with probabilistic information http://s....lis-professional/.  More often than not their decisions are based on climatological information largely used in a deterministic way. Also the cost-benefit assessments of the different  options  are not usually available something that hamper the a thorough assessment of the climate prediction value. Participants have agreed to continue this type of interaction and promote attendance of potentially involved sectors that were represented in this forum such as hydropower , irrigation communities , agricultural insurance and other end-users. Priority has been given to holding specific meetings to learn about the decision making processes  whilst at the same time extend and improve the sectoral knowledge on seasonal forecasts.  The workshop identified 2-3 pilot projects that can be used to demonstrate the value of seasonal predictions  in decision –maker. Such an activity should  begin in the coming months .