News
Members have been asked to submit nominations for the Intergovernmental Board on Climate Services. The Board will hold its first meeting in the first week of July 2013 in Geneva. The meeting will focus on defining the substructures and the way forward for implementing the Global Framework for Climate Services. The ways in which Partner Agencies will be supporting the Global Framework for Climate Services through their governing bodies will also be addressed.
The Global Framework for Climate Service Trust Fund had received pledges of around 12 Million Swiss France (CHF) by the end of 2012. At the start of 2013, Norway pledged an additional CHF 10 million to support climate services for food and nutrition security in Africa. This contribution will be used for programmes implemented by WMO and partner agencies, namely the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Canada contributed a further CHF 6 million to support the development of the regional components of climate services in the Polar Region, the Caribbean, the South Western Pacific and South Asia.
Trinidad & Tobago will host from 29 to 31 May the WMO Workshop on Climate Service at the National Level for the Caribbean. The Workshop will review the current capacity to generate climate information in the region and assess specific needs for climate services in the initial four priority areas of the Global Framework for Climate Services – agriculture and food security, water, health and disaster risk reduction – at the global, regional, national and local levels. Participants will also review and characterize the current status of interfacing mechanisms and interactions between climate services providers and users in order to identify the areas in need of improvement and recommend effective mechanisms and practices. The Workshop will determine the capacity building needs for the countries and territories in the region, in terms of mandates, infrastructure and human resources.
The Workshop aims to gather experts from the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and key decision-makers as well as practitioners from the initial four priority areas of the GFCS. There will be limited funding for certain invited participants.
GFCS Workshops and Meetings
Progress in rolling out climate services to improve water, agriculture, disaster and health management to help the most vulnerable cope with changing climate was the focus of a one-day seminar in Norway. WMO, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, NORAD and Cicero Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research organized ”Let’s talk about the weather – and start preparing for changes” on 12 February. The seminar took stock of the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services to improve and expand climate services essential to cope with weather, climate and water-related hazard.
The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Programme, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO held a workshop in Germany from 26 to 28 February to consider the need for observations for adaptation to climate variability and change. The workshop considered needs in a number of sectors, including agriculture and forestry, water resources management, health, coastal zone management, and energy production and transport.
