An extraordinary session of the World Meteorological Congress will be held online from 11 to 22 October 2021.
The Extraordinary session of the World Meteorological Congress is being convened following the decision of the Eighteenth session of the World Meteorological Congress to address specific items of the highest importance to the Organization: progress with the WMO reform, WMO support for the global water agenda and the Earth System Data Exchange. A Hydrological Assembly, as an open committee of Congress, will be convened as an online parallel event.
The free and unrestricted exchange of observational data from all parts of the world and of other data products among all WMO Members must be updated and strengthened to accommodate the explosive growth in the demand for weather, climate, and water monitoring and prediction data to support essential services needed by all sectors of society, as they face issues such as climate change, increasing frequency and impact of extreme weather, and implications for food security.
The Global Basic Observing Network (GBON) – approved by the World Meteorological Congress in 2018 – represents a new approach in which the basic surface-based observing network is designed, defined and monitored at the global level. Once implemented, GBON will improve the availability of the most essential surface-based data. This will have a direct positive impact on the quality of weather forecasts and information that will help to improve the safety and well-being of citizens throughout the world.
Although GBON can be implemented relatively quickly over the territory of most WMO Members in the developed world, in many developing countries additional investment and capacity development will be needed. WMO is working closely with the international development and climate finance communities to facilitate this.
Water stress, water-related hazards and water quality pose ever greater threat to society today. And yet, the capacity to monitor and manage this vital resource is fragmented and inadequate. Conscious of this challenge, World Meteorological Congress in 2018 requested that a WMO Vision, Strategy and Action Plan for Hydrology and a WMO Water Declaration be prepared for adoption at this Extraordinary session. The Hydrological Assembly, an open committee of Congress, will discuss these and other related topics and provide its recommendations to Plenary.
David Grimes, the laureate of the sixty-fifth IMO Prize and former President of the World Meteorological Congress, will present the IMO Lecture.
