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