26
La cuenca del río Conchos:
una mirada desde las ciencias ante el cambio climático
discourse and initiatives from the time scales of weather events
(hours to days) to those of climate (seasons to decades or more)
(e.g., Neri and Magaña, 2016). However, in the absence of a more
formal mechanism, it has been difficult to sustain these informal
services in a border region that is far from national capital cities
and government centers of climate research and forecasting.
The North American Climate Service Partnership (NACSP)
was formed in 2012, as a cooperation agreement between the
hydrometeorological services of México, Canada, and the United
States, “to facilitate the exchange of information, technology and
management practices related to the development of climate
information and the delivery of integrated climate services for
North America” (NACSP, 2013). The partnership is based on
the principles and pillars of the Global Framework for Climate
Services (WMO, 2014). The ultimate goal of these services is to
help reduce climate-related risks, through enhanced cooperation
and improvements to the flow of relevant ideas and information
between the three nations. NACSP currently includes eight focus
areas, including three regional pilot projects (Rio Grande-Rio
Bravo, Great Lakes, Gulf of Maine), the North American Ensemble
Forecast System, North American Seasonal Forecast System,
North American Drought Monitor (NADM), Coordinated Daily
Precipitation Analysis, and the North American Seasonal Fire
Assessment and Outlook.
The Rio Grande-Rio Bravo Regional Pilot (RGB Pilot) started
in 2012, with a mission to develop and deliver drought-based
climate services to assist water resource managers, agricultural
interests, and other constituents within the basin as they respond
to future drought events and build capacity to respond to other
climate extremes. One of the main motivations for locating a pilot
project in the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo basin was the severe 2010-
2012 drought (Figure 1), in which substantial drought impacts—
