Review of WMO Climate Programs and the World Climate

UNCLAS GENEVA 000600 SIPDIS STATE PASS TO IO/T FOR RDISSELKOEN STATE PASS TO OES/EGC FOR SYOFFE STATE PASS NOAA FOR JHAYES, WBOLHOFFER, DTHOMPSON, KBARRETT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV WMO ENRG SENV TPHY TSPA ECOSOC SUBJECT: Review of WMO Climate Programs and the World Climate Conference-3 from the WMO Executive Council ¶1. Summary. During the WMO Executive Council (EC) LXI meeting held in Geneva from June 3-12, members reviewed the progress of WMO climate programs, made recommendations for their future direction and organization, and provided guidance to the WMO Secretary General on preparations for the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3). The full report of this session of the EC is available on line at: ftp://ftp.wmo.int/Documents/SESSIONS/EC/EC- LXI/English/Approved/app_wp03-2_en.doc. ¶2. The U.S. delegation was successful in obtaining consensus for Council to refrain from making decisions about future WMO structures or about the proposed Global Framework on Climate Services (GFCS) prior to the WCC-3. This helped the EC avoid pre-empting negotiations on the WCC-3 declaration or from drawing conclusions prematurely about the relationship between the GFCS, the WMO, and other UN bodies. EC members strongly advocated that National Meteorological Services play a lead role in the GFCS. The WCC-3 will take place in Geneva from August 31-September 4 and will be divided into a three-day "Expert Segment" followed by a two-day "High-level Segment" where the declaration and national statements will be issued. U.S. representation at the conference is under consideration by the Executive Office of the President, Department of State, and NOAA. End Summary. -------------- Agenda Highlights WMO Climate Related Constituent Bodies -------------- ¶3. The Council noted that WMO climate activities are guided by a number of constituent bodies and urged enhanced interaction and coordination between these bodies, and relevant associated bodies at the regional and national levels. The Council noted that the WCRP JSC and CCl would hold their first joint session at the fifteenth session of the CCl (CCl-XV) (Antalya, Turkey, February 2010). -------------- Enhancing Capabilities of Members to Provide Better Climate Predictions and Assessments -------------- ¶4. The Council reiterated the importance, acknowledged progress where applicable, and encouraged Members to address remaining gaps and needs with regard to Data Rescue activities for climate science and applications, the plan of the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) to develop the guidelines on ''Extremes in a changing climate'', Climate Watch Systems, implementation of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), contributions of the WCRP Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX),and the major modelling efforts being planned and coordinated by WCRP as input to the next assessment cycle of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5). -------------- Operational Climate Prediction -------------- ¶5. The Council appreciated the review taken at the completion of the 10 years of the RCOF process (Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 3-7 November 2008),and the ongoing efforts to expand, improve and standardize the activities and outputs under the process. The Council urged all Members with interests in the Polar Regions, in either hemisphere, to actively contribute to the relevant efforts to identify the priority user requirements for climate information in these regions. ¶6. The Council expressed satisfaction with the sustained efforts to issue consensus-based WMO El Nio and La Nia Updates. It expressed its satisfaction that Moscow (Russian Federation) and Pretoria (South Africa) have been approved for formal designation as WMO Global Producing Centres of Long Range Forecasts (GPCs) and that Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) have been approved jointly as a new WMO Lead Centre for Long-Range Forecast Multi-Model Ensemble (LC-LRFMME). -------------- Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) -------------- ¶7. The Council noted the growing interest of Members, and user groups in the establishment of Regional Climate Centres, to provide a range of regional-scale climate information. The Council urged the Secretary-General to promote rapid expansion of the RCC network to cover all Regions, and in particular to place high priority on meeting the climate-related needs of developing and least developed countries, and to facilitate opportunities for extra-budgetary support for RCC development. -------------- EC Working Group on Climate and Related Weather, Water and Environmental Matters (ECWG-CWE) -------------- ¶8. The Council noted that the ECWG-CWE had considered possible re-orientation of the WCP, with an emphasis on enhancing climate services with adequate focus on user interaction. The Council also noted that the expected outcomes of World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3) in the form of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) would be in line with many of the stated goals of the Climate Agenda and that the Climate Agenda should eventually be formally retired and replaced by the GFCS, but agreed to defer its final recommendation on the future of the WCP and the Climate Agenda until EC-LXII. -------------- World Climate Conference -3 (WCC-3) -------------- ¶9. The Council noted the outcomes of the second and third meetings of the WCC-3 International Organizing Committee (WIOC),including development of a Concept Note for a Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS)' as the proposed outcome of WCC-3. ¶10. The Council endorsed the overall concept of the proposed GFCS and noted that its successful implementation would facilitate the improvement of the existing climate services; the development of sector and user-targeted services; capacity building; and a more effective provider-user interface in the provision and application of climate services. The Council requested the Secretary-General to make every effort to ensure that NMHSs take a leading role in the service provision in the GFCS in cooperation with their partners, in order to make GFCS feasible and sustainable. It urged the Secretary-General to prepare a position paper with the concurrence of ECWG-CWE on how WMO Programmes should become core elements of the GFCS, especially through the unique capabilities and capacities of the NMHSs, and to actively promote these contributions as elements of the proposed GFCS. ¶11. The Council was informed that the WIOC has proposed that the further development of the GFCS into an action plan, following the WCC-3, be carried out by an ad hoc high level Task Force of independent advisors convened by the Secretary-General of WMO. The Council recommended that the Task Force be established in a manner so as to ensure its accountability and that it operate under terms of reference that would deliver effective and realistic results in a timely manner. The Council recommended that an action plan developed by the Task Force be made promptly available by the WMO Secretary-General to the UN System through the Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) and be considered under the Climate Knowledge Base activities of the 'UN System Delivering as One'. -------------- Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change -------------- ¶12. The Council agreed with the recommendations of the CCl Management Group that, as a project, CLIPS should have an appropriate sunset date and its accomplishments be consolidated should the GFCS assume the CLIPS legacy. In this regard, the Council requested CCl to define the role the Commission would play in GFCS implementation and its future programme of work at its upcoming session (CCl-XV, February 2010),which would be integrated into the Secretary-General's comprehensive proposal to be submitted to the EC-LXII. GRIFFITHS EC-LXI/APP_WP 3.2, APPENDIX A