Afghanistan’s development has been hampered through years of insecurity. It is extremely exposed to hydrometeorological hazards, which claimed the lives of nearly 15,000 from 1980 to 2015. Of these, 4,615 were due to flash floods and floods, according to the International Disaster Database Centre for research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), which have cost the country an estimated USD 396 million in economic losses. Associated landslides and avalanches are also a major problem.
In developing and emerging countries, climate data are often of poor quality and do not meet the prerequisites for the provision of climate services for political decision-makers. In Peru and the Andean region, the importance of user-tailored climate services is recognized, but this requires better quality climate observations and more expert meteorologists and climatologists.
The “Climate Services Adaptation Programme in Africa: Malawi & Tanzania” was the first multi-agency initiative to be implemented under the Global Framework for Climate Services. This flagship Programme helps develop user-driven climate services for food security, health and disaster risk reduction in Malawi and Tanzania.
Many African countries are extremely vulnerable to extreme weather events. They face even greater risks in the future as human induced climate change increasingly alters the weather and climate patterns that societies have come to depend on. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Sahel will experience increasingly higher average temperatures as well as changes in rainfall patterns over the course of the 21st century.
The main focus of the CIFDP is to facilitate the development of efficient forecasting and warning systems for coastal inundation based on robust science and observations.
The Pacific and Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are susceptible to many hydro-meteorological and other hazards, namely tropical storms and hurricanes, thunderstorms or lightning, coastal storm surges, floods, flash floods, coastal flooding, river flooding, tsunamis, drought, strong winds, heat waves, and dust or haze. These hazards have the potential to cause coastal erosion, landslides, mudslides, epidemics, and the movement and spread of toxic substances and volcanic material.
This Project focuses on instigating and coordinating an international climatological data and service exchange between National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, national organizations and other stakeholders on regional and national levels through Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs) and the establishment of Regional Climate Centres (RCCs). It targets South Asia and the so-called Third Pole Region – the world’s highest mountains, including the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau Region.
Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of climate and weather related hazards putting development gains at risk. By improving their disaster related information base, countries are better equipped to manage, prevent and respond to disasters. With funding from Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the project has focused on improving Lao PDR capacities in disaster risk reduction and early warning by installing a satellite data receiving system and providing specialized training for its operation and application.
The cryosphere – frozen precipitation, snow cover, sea ice, lake and river ice, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, permafrost and seasonally frozen ground – is a critically important component of the Arctic Climate System. Global climate, water and weather as well as other environmental areas are also highly influenced by the cryosphere. It is a major indicator of global climate change and plays a fundamental role in Earth’s climate system. The WMO Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW), initiated in 2011, provides authoritative info
Climate prediction and adaptation requires scientifically sound weather and climate information and capacity to develop and use such information for decision-making at national level. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) is funding several projects to enhance such capacity in the countries in Eastern Africa that are members of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction Applications Center (ICPAC). Climate Prediction Analysis Systems will be set up as part of these projects in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti as initial pilot countries.
