OUR CLIMATE IS CHANGING.
WE NEED TO ADAPT NOW. WE CAN!
Climate change is a reality
and
one that all countries
need
to
address now.
Global and local
steps to
reduce greenhouse gas
emissions are critical. As
critical
yet more
overlooked,
however,
is the
universal need
for society
to
become resilient to
current
and future changes.
Society must
build the
capacity
now to face
the
projected climate
risks, take
preventive action and
pre-empt
another global
crisis.
The world is already seeing increased climate variability, ranging from heat extremes to more frequent and intense floods and droughts. This variability is expected to increase further with climate change, according to the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and communities need the tools and information now to adapt, plan and grow.
When the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued its latest global status of climate at the end of 2008, it was inundated with questions about what the report portends for the future, not just globally but in specific localities. Will Brazil get more floods? When will the monsoon season start for Africa? Will the Indian Ocean get more deadly cyclones like Cyclone Nargis?
These are important questions that current
science has limited capability to answer. We
recognize the acute need for local climate
predictions that identify specific vulnerabilities
in certain locations at a finer scale–whether to predict widespread drought for
farmers or floods for emergency responders.
This information is especially vital to preventing
natural hazards from becoming disasters.
But while we currently have good assessments
of the global climate trends,
scientists are working to develop and refine
more local-level predictions. This “downscaling”
to the local region is necessary to
provide the critical climate information for
adaptation. It requires increased research
and supercomputing power.
Developing these tools requires a significant and continued investment in climate observations. Networks of satellites, buoys, ships, aircraft and land stations collect key data daily about our climate. But significant gaps in worldwide coverage remain. Least Developed Countries in particular lack the resources to collect and maintain observations. Those regions tend to be the most vulnerable to climate change because they lack the resources to be resilient to environmental and economic changes. We must fill those gaps to develop specific climate predictions at a more local level and to provide more accurate global climate trends.
Climate predictions need above all to be reliable and timely. They need to take advantage of existing informa tion and build on it to cater to the specific needs of their users. Farmers, fishermen, water managers, emergency managers, medical workers, tour op erators and energy developers all require information to make possible their operations in the face of a changing climate. As will be highlighted later this year at World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3), global actions are necessary across scientific disciplines and socio-economic sectors to provide decisionmakers the best possible science-based information for taking action. Scientists and decision-makers must work together not only to slow global warming but also to give people the information they need now to cope with change and live sustainably.
All countries must work together to ensure adequate investment in climate monitoring, observations, assessments, predictions and products. We have an important opportunity now to help ensure long-term socioeconomic progress. We do not want to read years from now about the warnings from the meteorological community that governments did not heed, about the lives lost that could–or should–have been saved, about the actions we could have taken had we had the right information in the right hands.
For more information, visit the WCC-3 Website: www.wmo.int/wcc3
Climate predictions protecting people, property and livelihoods
Climate predictions that show the timing and quantity of precipitation in a given area provide advance warning of malaria epidemics far ahead of the rainy season. This allows the optimized allocation of resources to prevent and treat malaria.
Drought monitoring efforts use climate information and modelling to warn of changing rainfall and soil conditions that affect agricultural production. With advance warning, farmers can adjust planting dates, crop varieties and irrigation strategies.
Climate information provides advance warning for other weather extremes, including floods and wildfires, enabling early warning and action to prevent natural hazards from becoming disasters. Science-based disaster risk reduction has a high return for investments: one dollar invested in disaster preparedness can save seven dollars’ worth of disaster-related economic losses.
WCC-3 participants
WCC-3 will bring together high-level policy-makers, scientists, climate service providers and global business leaders and decision-makers. An important goal is to increase interaction between those who develop and provide climate information and those who use the information. These end-users include decisionand policy-makers working in nearly every socio-economic sector: food and agriculture, water, health, disaster preparedness and risk management, environment, tourism, transport and energy, among others. The High-Level Segment, 3 September – 4 September, will attract heads of State and Government, ministers and other senior policy-makers. During the Expert Segment, 31 August – 2 September 2009, scientists and decision-makers will elaborate on white papers on the state of affairs of climate services and on the needs of users.
A climate legacy
WMO has been at the forefront of the climate agenda for the past four decades. The first two World Climate Conferences were groundbreaking in their impacts, heralding awareness of climate change and new observational and research capacities to monitor and understand the climate. Nearly 20 years have passed since the Second World Climate Conference, and science has now advanced to a point where more effective application of that knowledge to societal issues becomes possible. WCC-3 will build on the research and observational foundations laid by its predecessors to take that leap forward.
The first World Climate Conference in 1979 led to the establishment of the World Climate Programme and the World Climate Research Programme. It also initiated a process that nine years later led to the creation of the IPCC, which is co-sponsored by WMO and the United Nations Environment Programme. All of these endeavours have raised awareness and scientific understanding of climate variability and change. The second World Climate Conference in 1990 added decisive momentum to global climate discussions, increasing political will and commitment to the issue through the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Global Climate Observing System.
WCC-3 sponsors
WCC-3 is convened by WMO and Switzerland. It will take place at the International Conference Centre Geneva, from 31 August to 4 September 2009.
WCC-3 will break ground in bringing together users and providers of climate predictions and information, with the aim of creating a global framework for climate services. The Conference is made possible through extra budgetary contributions to a Trust Fund and in-kind services from sponsors. As of 1 June 2009, contributions and commitments have been received from the Governments of Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Namibia, Norway, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and the United States of America, as well as the European Commission, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme.
The entire UN System is participating in the Conference, which will contribute to the United Nations delivering as one on climate knowledge.
2009 is the Year of Climate Change. This year, we have an unprecedented opportunity to tackle the climate crisis while also catalyzing the lower-carbon, green growth that is the foundation of long-term economic prosperity. In December, the world’s governments will gather in Copenhagen to seal the deal on a new climate change agreement, which must be ambitious, fair and effective in reducing emissions, while assisting countries as they adapt to the inevitable effects of climate change.
Now more than ever, the World Meteorological Organization’s efforts to strengthen climate services for decision-makers are of vital importance. The World Climate Conference-3, to be held in Geneva 31 August - 4 September, marks a critical point on the road to Copenhagen. Working together, we must dramatically reduce emissions while protecting lives and livelihoods from the effects of climate change.
Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General