World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General-elect, Prof. Celeste Saulo, has been named an Honorary Member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) – a prestigious award which recognizes outstanding individuals and organizations in the weather, water, and climate community.
Prof. Celeste Saulo of Argentina has been appointed as the first female Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), taking the helm of an organization at the fore of international efforts to monitor and tackle climate change and increasingly extreme weather.
National meteorological and hydrological services and disaster risk and emergency management services are holding a Joint session before the Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction for the Americas and Caribbean. This unprecedent meeting aims to strengthen collaboration in pursuit of the Early Warnings for All initiative.
Since 2019 large parts of Argentina and neighboring countries have been reeling under drought conditions with the last four months of 2022 receiving less than half of the average precipitation: the lowest rainfall in 35 years.
Combined with high temperatures, this has led to widespread crop failures. Argentina is one of the world’s top wheat exporters but agricultural exports for 2023 are projected to further drop 28% compared to 2022 levels. Uruguay declared an agricultural emergency in October 2022, with 60% of the country’s territory experiencing “extreme” or “severe” drought.
A new project to build regional capacity and resilience to climate variability and change in the Andes has been approved. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is providing CHF 5.8 million in funding for ENANDES+, which will scale up the ENANDES project, currently being implemented by WMO through the Adaptation Fund.
