Tufa Dinku

Tufa Dinku has about three decades of operational and research experience in the field of climate science and its applications. This includes 12 years of operational meteorology at the National Meteorology Agency of Ethiopia and 18 years of research and applications at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Columbia Climate School.

Tufa has been contributing to the use of science for society through the development and implementation of the transformative ENACTS (Enhancing National Climate Services) approach. The ENACTS approach, implemented in over 20 developing countries, is a multi-faceted initiative designed to bring climate knowledge into national decision-making through improved spatially and temporally continuous climate data that goes back over 40 years, co-generated climate information products that are made available through web portals (maprooms), and developing capacity of users to understand and use these products in different applications (e.g. agriculture, water, health). ENACTS is now recognized globally as an innovative approach that has started to transform climate services in many developing countries.

He has supported National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), Regional Climate Centers (RCC), and many climate-sensitive sectors through ENACTS. The ENACTS has also led to the development of powerful tools, such as the Climate Data Tool (CDT) and the Automatic Weather Station Data Tool (ADT), specifically targeting the needs of NMHS.

Tufa holds a BSc in physics from Addis Ababa University, a post-graduate diploma in meteorology from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and MSc and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering/hydrometeorology from the University of Connecticut in the United States.