Somalia Hydromet Stations 2021

There are only two perennial rivers in Somalia; the Juba and the Shabelle. Due to the arid and semi-arid nature of the northern parts of the country, the rivers are dry and flashy with water flowing for few hours and there are no river gauging stations in these rivers. Before 1991, the Ministry of Agriculture was mandated to operate the river flow and climate gauging stations. However, the network collapsed following the break of civil war in the early nineties. No data was collected between 1991 and 2001/2. SWALIM re-established the network in 2001/2 and by installing new stations in some areas and the network has continued to expend progressively. Out of the 14 river gauging stations that were operational before the war only eight stations are currently operational; four on the Shabelle and four on the Juba. The climate monitoring network has over 100 stations across Somalia. FAO SWALIM has partnered with the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MOEWR) and Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in river and climate data collection respectively. However, under the current context with federal governments and regions, the Puntland ministry of Environment, Agriculture and climate change and the Somaliland Ministry of Agricultural development are responsible for climate data in their respective regions.