guest column:Peter Makwanya MODERN climate policy planning does not only focus on future preparedness, it draws lessons from the past, by communicating risks based on current climatic events and impacts, including opportunities that can be realised from that. In order to stay relevant and focused, climate policy experts make use of forecasting communication to anticipate potential climate hazards and use appropriate communication tool-kits for countering those hazards and weaponising information. The idea to have knowledge of future climate communication needs is paramount in forecasting communication. Relevant communication tools are not used in isolation but according to specific situations and impacts. Flashbacks of past climatic impacts, narrations, visuals and digital story-telling strategies, photographs, videos or films are some essential communication tools that can be harnessed. Climate policy experts make use of forecasting communication for climate research, resilient planning and climate change mitigation. Building forecasts is highly fundamental by enabling policy experts to have options and opportunities for identifying potential climate risks, avoid them and design problem-solving techniques in advance. Forecasting communication is an essential resilient building tool for enhancing livelihood options and human preparedness. Forecasting communication is both in the interest of the environment and policy planning. It promotes climate communication research in order to manage early warnings of risks and assessing their probability of occurring and their possible impacts. Early climate indicators allow policymakers to map out mitigations or prospect opportunities well before climatic events occur or actually become reality. In this regard, each climate indicator can be used to plan for a potential future outcome or event. This would empower climate researchers and policy planners with instruments for dealing with multiple indicators and shocks in order to boost confidence levels in dealing with uncertainties. If anticipated climate risks occur, for instance farmers and conservationists would have knowledge beforehand on how climate risks would impact on their farming operations, agricultural production, tourism or conservancies. As climate forecasting communicators plan their designs, they would have room to adjust their predictions depending on their confidence levels in confronting potential risks. As a confidence and resilient building tool, forecasting communication empowers climate policy planners and researchers with diagnostic tools for monitoring and evaluation throughout the period of uncertainties. This can be done until evidence of resilience has been realised or when potential forecasts are no longer required. In the whole framework of designs, it becomes certain that some forecasts would most probably occur, while some would definitely not occur at all. Therefore, designing their indicators along these lines would help climate researchers and policy planners to separate events with little or n