World Meteorological OrganizationEXECUTIVE COUNCILSeventieth SessionGeneva, 20 to 29 June 2018

EC-70/INF. 2.2Submitted by:

Secretary-General30.V.2018

REPORT BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

This report contains a résumé of the activities of the Secretariat since the last session of the Executive Council (EC) and a report on the relations of the Organization with other international organizations. Financial, staff and administrative matters are reported under agenda item 17.

1. Highlights

Since the sixty-ninth session of EC (10–17 May 2017), the Secretary-General (SG) devoted his efforts to guiding the Secretariat in the implementation of the WMO Strategic and Operating Plan 2016–2019. Progress is reported under each relevant agenda item.

To foster the use of meteorological information in key socioeconomic sectors, the SG promoted new or reinforced partnerships with United Nations (UN) organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for agrometeorological and climate services, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for aviation meteorological services, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for maritime safety services and the World Health Organization (WHO) for air quality and climate services.

WMO has considerably strengthened its collaboration with development partners to target more resources for improving the national meteorological, climate and hydrological services. Direct WMO development project funding portfolio has increased considerably during the last three years. For example, the European Commission has decided to allocate 85 M € for climate service development in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. The CREWS funding programme for implementation of Sendai and Paris agreements is now operational and supported by seven donor countries.

WMO is in a process to build strategic alliances with the World Bank and Green Climate Fund with the aim to give them guidance on 1-2 billion USD magnitude investments in national weather, climate and hydrological services. WMO is also promoting cooperation between developed country development agencies and the NMHSs. New consultancy agreements have been signed with several developed country NMHSs.

The Secretariat has started using numerical indicators for measuring the progress of the work from 2018 onwards. Most of the indicators are related to the services of WMO to its Members, and they will also form the basis of the 2020-23 Strategy implementation. The WMO country profile database will be used as a progress monitoring and analysis tool.

Collaboration with the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was strengthened through the provision of climate reports (State of the Global Climate and Greenhouse Gas Bulletin) and by addressing delegates at the opening of the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23, Bonn, 6–17 November 2017). WMO has promoted the participation of WMO PRs in the COP meetings as members of national delegations. Record amount of PRs were present at COP23, and WMO organized a dedicated event for ministers and PRs. Also participation of PRs in IPCC meetings has been growing.

Weather phenomena are having a big impact on several humanitarian UN organizations, and there is a great need for early warning El Niño/La Niña, seasonal and high impact weather services. A related pilot service project was carried out in 2017, and the results were highly satisfactory. The WMO SG has also informed the UN SG on status of climate and disasters on regular basis. The SG also attended and played an active role in international conferences such as the Ocean Conference (New York, 5–9 June 2017), where he was moderator of the

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 2

partnership dialogue on minimizing and addressing ocean acidification, and the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference (Cancun, 22–23 May 2017), Belt and Road Forum (Beijing, 14-15 May 2017) as well as events related to the UN General Assembly.

WMO received an observer status in the Arctic Council (tenth Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting, Fairbanks, 11 May 2017), and has played an active role in the Arctic Council focal areas of meteorology and climate.

WMO has participated in several events, where private sector engagement in WMO activities has been handled. Both in-house and external consultant resources have been allocated to a planning process, which aims at a decision at Cg-18. It is widely understood that WMO is well placed in promotion of organized public-private partnership in the fields of services and infrastructures.

A voluntary separation/early retirement programme has been implemented to offer opportunities for partial reallocation of resources and hiring of new personnel to meet the new Member needs.

Structural changes to enhance the efficiency of WMO departments have been carried out. Several director level appointments have been made, most recently Chief Scientist and Partnership Development director. Management coaching programme has begun to improve the WMO management skills. Culture of common responsibility and cross-departmental co-operation. Engagement of the staff to the WMO reform process and open communication culture have been promoted.

Details on the activities and key achievements of the Secretariat Departments since the last report of the SG to the Council are provided in the following sections and in the online summary of the Mid-Term Performance Assessment Report (2016–2017). Also an Annual Report is made available to describe the work carried out by WMO.

2. Disaster risk reduction, resilience and prevention

WMO Roadmap for Disaster Risk Reduction and Global Multi-hazard Alert System

• The implementation of the WMO Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Roadmap is taking place, through raising awareness of it among Members and inviting them to engage in the provision of better DRR services by integrating the DRR Roadmap in their national DRR efforts.

• Collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and other international organizations was strengthened, including through the contribution of WMO to the UN Plan of Action on DRR Resilience for further implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR and through the International Network on Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (IN-MHEWS), the International Conference on MHEWS and the 2017 Global Platform for DRR.

• The MHEW Conference was successfully organized on 22–23 May 2017 in Cancun, Mexico with over 400 practitioners. This meeting preceded the Fifth Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction on 24–26, May 2017. The following WMO activities were captured in the MHEW Conference Chair’s Summary: (a) Global Multi-hazard Alert System (GMAS); (b) the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative and the efforts to strengthen the issuance of impact-based warning services; (c) WMO PRs’ Communiqué was circulated during the GP Conference; (d) GMAS and IN-MHEWS were reflected in the Chair’s summary report for the submission to the UN General Assembly; (e) a Checklist for MHEWSs was published.

• GMAS was successfully initiated: endorsement was obtained from the 2017 joint meeting of the Presidents of Regional Associations and Presidents of Technical Commissions and the first meeting of Advisory and Technical Teams was organized;

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 3

An Expert Group on GMAS was established under the supervision of the chair of EC WG-DRR. Work on the concept note was conducted as requested by EC-69.

• The development and implementation of GMAS-Asia, Meteo-Alert in Russia and SEE (South-East European)-MHEWS-A were facilitated. As well, early warning information was partly aggregated in the new version of WMO Weather Information System (WWIS). Other regional components of GMAS are under development.

• GMAS has been presented at sessions of the regional tropical cyclone bodies seeking their contribution to the development of the system through integrating existing regional and national tropical cyclone forecasting and warning information into GMAS.

Forecasting and warning services for tropical cyclones and for coastal inundation

• Globally, the tropical cyclone season in 2017 saw the numbers of both named hurricanes and major hurricanes (category 3 and above) in North Atlantic doubling compared to long-term average. In other regions, socioeconomic consequences caused by tropical cyclones were also enormous; however, casualties were very low. The achievements can be attributed to well-established regional coordination mechanisms for tropical cyclone forecasting and warnings that enabled Members to receive reliable and timely forecasting information based on impacts and the multi-hazard approach.

• Regional coordination mechanisms are continuously strengthened through the organisation and conduct of sessions of regional tropical cyclone committees. Four sessions were organized during the intersessional period: RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee (TCC-22, Seychelles, September 2017); WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones (PTC-44, Bahrein, September 2017); Typhoon Committee (TC-50, Viet Nam, March 2018); Hurricane Committee (HC-40, France, April 2018).

• Workshops were organized to improve tropical cyclone forecasters skills and competencies for their forecasting and communication to the media and emergency managers, such as, in cooperation with the Public Weather Services (PWS) Programme, the RA V Training course on Tropical Cyclones and PWS (Fiji, September 2017); RA I Training course on Tropical Cyclones and PWS (La Reunion, France, September 2017); RA IV Workshop on Hurricane Forecasting and Warning (Miami, USA, March 2018). Attachment trainings were organized in the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) in New Delhi (December 2017), Tokyo (December 2017) and La Réunion (February 2018).

• In response to EC-66 call to develop tropical cyclone forecaster competencies, competency standards at regional level were established in each of the five regional tropical cyclone bodies and will be further developed and agreed upon at global level by consolidating those at regional level.

• A coordinated approach was promoted among WMO programmes and regional associations to contribute to the delivery of DRR services in coordination and partnership with regional organizations such UN-ESCAP.

• Information was provided to the UNSG concerning the disastrous hurricane season in the Caribbean and its possible linkages with global climate change together with suggestions for UN system actions to mitigate loss and damages from such severe hurricanes.

• The Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP) continued to be implemented through four sub-projects in Bangladesh, the Caribbean, Fiji and Indonesia, coordinated by the Marine Meteorology and Oceanography Programme with support from the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme, and technical

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 4

advice from the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) and the Commission for Hydrology (CHy).

• The Bangladesh project, funded by USAID with additional support from the EC, was successfully completed in November 2017. Forecasters at the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, together with national partners and international experts, developed an end-to-end forecasting and early warning system for the coastal region – mostly at sea level, subject to frequent storms and tropical cyclones and home to three major river basins. Human and livestock deaths and injuries have been clearly reduced.

• The other three sub-projects continue and the concept’s long-term sustainability will be considered through an assessment as decided by JCOMM-5 and CHy-15.

3. Climate services, support to climate action and climate resilience

Seventeenth session of the Commission for Climatology

• The seventeenth session of the Commission for Climatology (CCl-17) was held on 10–13 April 2018 at WMO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. On this occasion, a Technical Conference on “Climate Services for Policy and Decision Support” was held on 11–12 April 2018, in which the work done during the sixteenth intersessional period was presented and discussed.

• CCl-17 was attended by delegates of 68 WMO Members and seven international organizations. Out of a total of 139 participants, 44 (32%) were women. The Commission elected Ms Manola Brunet (Spain) as president and Ms Barbara Tapia Cortés (Chile) as vice-president. This is the first time in the history of CCl to have a female president and for both president and vice-president to be women.

• The Commission recognized the outstanding achievements of Dr Lisa Alexander (Australia) and Dr Simon Mason (USA). CCl-17 adopted a new working structure consisting of four Focus Areas, namely: (a) Climate Monitoring, Data and Assessment, (b) Climate Services Information System (CSIS) Operations, (c) Climate Services for Societal Benefits and (d) Capacity Development for Climate Services and an Implementation Coordination Team for Climate Services Information System (ICT CSIS).

Seventeenth session of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology

• The Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) successfully held its seventeenth session in Incheon, Republic of Korea from 18 to 20 April 2018. There were 150 delegates from 69 countries that attended the session. The session elected Mr Roger Stone of Australia as president and Mr Orivaldo Brunini of Brazil as vice-president. The Commission selected its Management Committee which, for the first time, included an equal gender balance of 50% women and men.

• The Commission set its priorities for the next four years which included the need for better services for farmers, ranging from localized weather forecasts to seasonal climate outlooks and better weather and climate risk management tools. It also stressed the need for more research and technology development in agrometeorology especially in soil moisture observations and agricultural mass and energy fluxes. It also called for more focused education and training for agrometeorologists.

• There was a dedicated two-day Women’s Agrometeorology Leadership Workshop as part of a wider WMO drive to promote women scientists and gender-sensitive weather and climate services. Based on the outcomes of the workshop, the

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 5

Commission adopted a Resolution on Gender Equality which among other decisions requested the Commission to establish a mentoring program to strengthen the capacity of female agricultural meteorologists.

Global Climate Observing System

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) programme has made progress in several areas since EC-69, in particular through the delivery of the latest version of the report describing GCOS Implementation Needs.

• The potential list of global climate indicators has been agreed and promoted to be used to communicate to the widest community the scope and rate of changes to the climate. The seven indicators are: global surface temperature, ocean heat, atmosphere carbon dioxide, sea level, ocean acidification, sea ice extent in the Arctic and Antarctic and glacier change.

• The Atmosphere Observation Panel for Climate, AOPC, has taken the lead to explore how to use radar to compliment precipitation climatology and how to use lightning observations for climate applications. Progress reports are available.

• The joint GCOS - Global Ocean Observing System Ocean (GOOS) Observing Panel for Climate (OOPC) is taking a strong role in organising the next decadal ocean observing conference, OceanObs’19, www.oceanobs19.net. OOPC is currently establishing observing system evaluations for tracking ocean heat and freshwater content, air sea fluxes and ocean surface stress, boundary currents and their interaction with the shelf.

• EC-69 requested to facilitate the identification of a suitable institution amongst Members to take over the coordination of the Global Terrestrial Network – Hydrology (GTN-H) to ensure the continued provision of services. The UNESCO International Hydrological Programme – WMO Hydrology and Water Resources Programme (IHP-HWRP) secretariat, hosted by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology in Koblenz, Germany, has firmly committed to take over the coordination.

• In light of the importance of adaptation, to identify needs and potential regional cooperation, GCOS and the WMO Integrated Global Observing System (WIGOS), jointly with UNFCCC, have organized a workshop in Nadi, in Fiji, on 9–12 October 2017, which developed an outline for a Pacific region observing network plan in support of the GCOS Implementation Plan and the Implementation Plan for the Evolution of Global Observing Systems (EGOS IP). This workshop serves as a prime example for cross-departmental and cross-institutional collaboration and will be of great service to identify NMHSs needs and provide better data access.

• There has been great progress in providing free access to Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) observed from satellites. The Joint CEOS-CGMS Working Group on Climate, tasked with responding on the monitoring of climate from space, has built an inventory for ECVs, which is accessible through a website. Currently, the inventory holds 913 climate data records entries, which cover 30 ECVs observed from satellites. The ECV inventory is the backbone of the architecture for climate monitoring from space and provides a comprehensive view as to what Climate Data Records are currently planned or available.

• The performance records for 2017 and the past 6 years, for each of the GCOS climate observations networks for the surface and for the upper-air, GSN and GUAN, in each WMO region, are available through the WMO web page. In brief, 2017 monitoring of the GSN and GUAN has continued to show that significant areas of the in-situ networks are not meeting the minimum requirements, as many countries are lacking the necessary resources and technical skills to operate and maintain their stations.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 6

Climate data management and applications

• WMO worked on new approaches for raising awareness of the importance of climate data including preservation, usability, quality and use in improving climate services and policy and decision making.

• WMO in collaboration with Members and Donors assisted in modernizing data archives through Data rescue and Climate Data Management System (CDMS) projects in Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Congo-Brazzaville, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Jamaica, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Uzbekistan. Collaboration with Australia for assisting the Pacific Island states in this domain is ongoing.

• A mechanism for the recognition of centennial stations is now operational. A total of 60 stations have been recognized by EC-69 last year. This year there is a list of 54 candidate stations which EC-70 is requested to endorse through a decision. The list includes in particular 11 stations from Africa and South America compared with last year when there were only 4 from these two regions.

• WMO is working on implementing a trial phase for a complementary new template for CLIMAT message to capture daily records of temperature and precipitation that will be useful for monitoring extreme events. A collaboration is ongoing with key global data centres and GCOS for ensuring an integrated approach for climate dataset stewardship and maturity assessment.

• WMO successfully released the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2017 at COP23. It collaborated with UN agencies to include information on climate related risks and impact. The content of the WMO Statement has been aligned with the definition of climate indicators and the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) terminology of pre-industrial temperature baseline.

• WMO delivered guidelines and a software for assisting countries in the provision of their national climate assessment in a standard manner that will further enhance countries contribution to the WMO Statement and their communications on climate change. Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Morocco and Tanzania have successfully tested these guidelines. A wider operational implementation will be subsequently devised jointly by CCl and the Commission for Basic Systems (CBS).

Climate applications and services

• There has been significant progress in the implementation of Regional Climate Centres (RCCs)/Regional Climate Centre Networks (RCC-Networks) around the world.

• A Node Lead meeting of the Arctic Regional Climate Centre Network (ArcRCC-Network) was held in Oslo, Norway, on 22–23 February 2018 to consolidate the preparatory work to launch the demonstration phase along with PARCOF in 2018. The meeting reviewed the status of preparations of each of the nodes for the demonstration phase and agreed on specific actions to be ready for launch of the demonstration phase in May 2018. Met Norway has set up a web portal for ArcRCC-Network (arctic-rcc.org/).

• Environment and Climate Change Canada hosted the inaugural session of the Pan-Arctic Regional Climate Outlook Forum (PARCOF-1) at Ottawa, Canada, on 15–16 May 2018, with focus on arctic commercial shipping users (tourism, re-supply, resource extraction and fishing) and circumpolar indigenous organizations (www.wmo.int/pages/prog/wcp/wcasp/meetings/parcof/parcof-canada2018.html). This was followed by a meeting of the Arctic PRCC-Network Node Managers on 17 May 2018, at the same venue, for technical discussions regarding ArcRCC-Network operations during the demonstration phase.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 7

• A Scoping Meeting of the representatives of Members from the Third Pole region, held at Geneva on 27–28 March 2018, agreed on the structure for Third Pole RCC-Network based on geographical distribution of responsibilities among China (Northern Node), India (Southern Node) and Pakistan (Western Node), with China as the overall coordinating node.

• On the occasion of the completion of two decades of RCOF operations around the world, WMO had organized an International Workshop on Global Review of Regional Climate Outlook Forums (5–7 September 2017, Guayaquil, Ecuador), the overarching outcomes of which were the recommendations to work towards the next generation RCOF process, including mainstreaming of objective seasonal climate forecasting underpinning RCOF products, expanding product portfolio, based on standardized operational practices identified during the workshop, integration of seasonal outlooks in decision-making process at country level, improved partnership and user engagement in RCOF process.

• The Second WMO Workshop on Operational Climate Prediction (OCP-2) was held from 31 May to 1 June 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. This is part of the series of WMO Workshops envisaged to be held regularly and serve as a platform for operational and research communities to share experiences, to review the progress in the operational practices and scientific studies related to climate prediction on sub-seasonal to decadal time scales and to address incorporation of recent research advances in developing new operational forecast products. The workshop facilitated a technical dialogue between various stakeholders and the development of a road map for improving operational climate prediction on sub-seasonal, seasonal and decadal scales including through the scoping of a technical guidance document.

Climate and climate change policy relevant issues

• The SG was invited to make a statement in the opening of the twenty-third session of the Conference of Parties (COP 23) of UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany, November 2017. It was a unique opportunity to report on WMO scientific and technical contributions to the UNFCCC and on the record-breaking global temperatures, carbon dioxide concentrations and sea temperatures, as well as increasing ocean acidification and extreme events and their impacts around the world. WMO will propose these parameters as headline indicators for global stocktaking under Paris Agreement.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 8

• Since April 2018, the SG has become a member of the “Common Core Principals for a UN System-wide Approach to Climate Action”. WMO is the only specialized agency, in the UN system invited to this Group. It is designed to guide a system-wide approach and to climate change action under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UNFCCC process and the implementation of the Paris Agreement at the global, regional and national and sub-national level.

• The SG and the Executive Director of the UNFCCC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), initially focused on four areas: (a) facilitating the presentation of the annual WMO statement on state of the climate and Greenhouse Gas Bulletin to Parties; (b) developing a collection of climate services to guide assessment and identification of adaptation strategies under the NAPs; (c) promoting the Integrated Greenhouse Gas Information System (IG3IS) initiative to help countries reduce the uncertainty of national emission inventory reporting to UNFCCC; and (d) enhancing access to data needed for adaptation planning and implementation, through cooperation between WMO Regional Climate Centres and the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centres.

Agricultural meteorology and drought management

• WMO and FAO updated their MoU in June 2018. The MoU included the following strategic priorities between the two organizations: (a) strengthening of agro-meteorological services in countries; (b) strengthening collaboration related to global and region-specific frameworks and mechanisms; (c) global and region-specific monitoring for early warning and response; (d) technical cooperation related to data, tools and methods to improve agrometeorological products and services and their access by small farmers; and (e) joint programmes and project development and joint resource mobilization.

• WMO started implementing several projects related to agricultural meteorology including with CREWS in Burkina Faso, Niger and Papua New Guinea. WMO also started joint projects with FAO in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Uganda. The German Government approved a project which focuses on applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management for the agricultural sector in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

• The Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) which is co-sponsored by WMO and the Global Water Partnership, worked on developing national drought policies in several countries especially in the Pacific region. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and FAO also provided assistance with this work.

4. Weather services, service quality and delivery

Implementation of the WMO Strategy for Service Delivery

• Following the request by Decision 39 (EC-69), CBS will develop a mechanism to collaborate with other technical commissions to draft the General Service Delivery Guide for endorsement by Cg-18.

• Following the request by Decision 40 (EC-69), CBS developed the concept paper on common interfaces for service delivery driven by data from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and emerging sources to enable users to seamlessly access weather and climate information in a way that would ensure attribution to NMHSs as providers of services. The information provided in the concept paper was submitted to CBS Technical Conference (Geneva, March 2018) for consideration and advice on its suitability to CBS Management Group for submission to EC-70.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 9

• Following the request by Decision 41 (EC-69), CBS and the Commission for Atmospheric Sciences (CAS), in consultation with other technical commissions, will develop guidelines based on Members’ best practices for an integrated operational platform to support urban service delivery needs. The outlines of the guidelines will be submitted to EC-70 for consideration and approval.

• The Secretariat assisted Members to develop multi-dissemination channels for forecasts and warnings for improved service delivery through renovation of TV weather studios, provision of studio equipment and presenter training in the Republic of the Congo (March 2017) and Fiji (September 2017). Utilization of social media for dissemination, especially targeting the younger generation, was also addressed. In this regard, a mobile weather application was developed for Tanzania with the support of the PWSD Programme.

• Implementation of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) (Decision 6 (EC-68)): WMO co organized the CAP Implementation Workshop (Rome, Italy, September 2017) in which 72 participants from 20 countries of all Regions, representing NMHSs and user communities, participated and learned about the importance of adopting CAP for rapid automated dissemination of warnings. In addition, a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Jump-Start Workshop was held at the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) (Nadi, Fiji, July 2017) and in SIDS-Pacific Niue, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Palau and Tuvalu (August 2017).

• At a Meteoalarm meeting (KNMI, Netherlands, March 2017), information on the implementation of CAP by NMHSs, the WMO Alert Hub and the proposed Global Multi-hazard Alert System (GMAS) was presented to 36 European countries participating in Meteoalarm.

• The Service Delivery Division and the Communication and Public Affairs Office contributed to inspiring TV weather presenters from developed and developing countries to communicate information on climate change to the public and decision-makers. The TV presenters were also informed on how to access the necessary tools and resources to enable them carry out this important duty. WMO did this by supporting participants and participating at the “14th Media Workshop on Communicating Climate Change” (Turin, Italy, March 2017). Over 70 weather presenters from all regions benefitted from this event.

• Implementation of PWS component of the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP): improved service delivery of weather forecasts, warnings and climate information to the public and specialized users were provided during the RA-IV Expert Group meeting on the SWFDP (Miami, USA, May 2017) and for West Africa (Abidjan, Ivory Coast, September 2017).

Implementation of impact-based forecasting and risk-based warning

In response to Resolution 2 (Cg-17) and Decision 4 (EC-69):

• Stakeholders had a chance to consider impacts of hazards, classify them in terms of severity and develop mitigation advice that would assist them make impact-based decisions. In this regard, a Regional Workshop on Impact-based Forecasts in RA II (Asia) was hosted by WMO and the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) (Seoul, Republic of Korea, November 2017) in which participated 19 representatives of NMHSs of 19 countries of RA II and RA I.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 10

Public Weather Services competencies

• The review of the Guide to Public Weather Services Practices (PWS 834) to include new dimensions related to service delivery and PWS Competencies is currently underway and the update on the revision was submitted to CBS-TECO.

• The Competency Framework for Public Weather Services has been revised, extended and its structure re-aligned to be consistent with other competencies frameworks within WMO. The revised top-level competencies in the PWSD Competency Framework are submitted for consideration to EC-70 for approval to be included in the WMO Technical Regulations as Recommended Practices.

• The above is in response to Decision 93 (EC-68), Roadmap to enhanced WMO Technical Regulations Framework, requesting the technical commissions, inter alia, to prioritize in their work plans the review and update of relevant parts of the WMO Technical Regulations.

Meteorological services for aviation

Assistance to Members was provided to improve aeronautical meteorological service provision, fulfilling WMO and ICAO requirements. In addition, the following noteworthy activities and achievements were undertaken:

• Publication of update to WMO-No. 49, Technical Regulations, Volume II, Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation in response to Resolution 14 (EC-69);

• Conducting of a 2017 WMO Aeronautical Meteorology Scientific Conference (AeroMetSci-2017) in response to Decision 44 (EC-68);

• Completion of an analysis of the outcomes of the 2016–17 global survey of the Commission for Aeronautical Meteorology (CAeM) on aeronautical meteorological service provision and publication of final report;

• Continued support and assistance to ICAO, including the conducting of site assessments and audits of prospective space weather information providers as well as addressing releases of radioactive material, a regional hazardous weather advisory scheme, evolution of the international airways volcano watch and the world area forecast system, governance and cost recovery arrangements;

• Major contribution to the development and publication of (new) WMO-No. 1205, Guide to Competency and (update) WMO-No. 1100, Guide to the Implementation of a Quality Management System for NMHSs;

• Consultations with ICAO to identify opportunities for enhanced WMO-ICAO coordination, collaboration and partnerships in respect of capacity building and other implementation support efforts with Members/Member States.

Meteorological services for marine and coastal operations

• Assistance to Members was provided to improve marine meteorological and coastal area service provision. This is in part fulfilling the WMO requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, including for the regular provision of meteorological warnings and forecasts to ships at sea. Particular awareness was raised of the Polar Code and WMO role in maritime safety services in Polar regions.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 11

• In this regard a few technical guidance documents have been updated or developed (Sea-Ice Information Services in the World WMO-No.574 to be published in 2018; METAREA Coordinator Operations Handbook; guidelines as contribution to the IMO Member State Audit Scheme).

• Strengthened relationship and coordination with the IMO and IHO to advance improved maritime safety services to Members, including contribution to IMO Navigation Committee for Search and Rescue (NCSR-5), the development of specifications for the S-412 Weather Overlay for the IHO S-100 Electronic Navigation Chart display catalogue available for ship navigation systems, the completion of the S-411 Sea-ice overlay, and planning to transition WWMIWS to SafetyNET II, and a new satellite constellation for the provision of met-ocean services on SafetyNET.

Fifth session of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission on Oceanography and Marine Meteorology

• The fifth session of the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission of Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM-5) was held in Geneva (25–29 October 2017), with 37% female participation (a 20% increase compared to previous JCOMM sessions). The summary report is complete and presented for endorsement at EC-70 under agenda item 5.3 and at the IOC EC-51.

• JCOMM-5 particularly focussed on improving the integration between the end-to-end process from observations to data management and how this can support services to Member/Member States. The session adopted an enhanced future vision and direction for maritime safety services and further promoted the appointment of National Marine Service Focal Points in WMO Members. 

• Furthermore, it amended technical regulations and guidance related to marine aspects (Manual on Marine Meteorological Services WMO-No. 558 and its associated Guide WMO-No.471; Revised Manual on the Global Data-processing and Forecasting System WMO-No. 485; Guide to Competency WMO-No. 1205).

• The session was preceded by a Marine Technical Conference with participation of about 100 delegates (close to half female) from scientific research, meteorological operations and marine and coastal communities. A draft vision statement for JCOMM was finalized at the end of the Conference. An online conference proceedings publication includes extended abstracts of technical oral and poster presentations, keynote presentations, conference recommendations and statement. A “Women in Marine Leadership” training course was also held in conjunction with the session.

● Collaboration with IOC was continued with respect to JCOMM and other activities such as tsunami warning and in relation to the proposed JCOMM reform process.

5. Hydrological services

Under the leadership of the Advisory Working Group of CHy, the work programme established by CHy-15 and endorsed by EC-69, continued to be implemented, in cooperation with other WMO relevant programmes. Its main focus being to support Members in building an end-to-end system from data management to hydrological service delivery for improving their decision making in the management of water resources, with particular emphasis on flood and drought management.

HydroHub and HYCOS projects

• The Global Hydrometry Support Facility (WMO HydroHub), launched in April 2017, strives to enhance in a sustainable and efficient way the capacities of NMHSs to manage hydrological observing networks by providing technical assistance and

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 12

innovative operational solutions. The core of the WMO HydroHub is the WHYCOS program, including promotion of free and open hydrological data sharing, without forgetting dedicated capacity building.

• In 2017, the IGAD-HYCOS project was finalized and the draft final report delivered to the financing institution. A concept note for the Senegal Basin HYCOS was prepared and initial material for Pacific HYCOS Phase II and Indian Ocean HYCOS was put together.

• The HydroHub Governance was established, with first meetings of the Advisory Council and the Innovation Committee held. The HydroHub team developed strategy documents and a work plan, currently under review, and prepared communication material. An Innovation Workshop was organized together with the International Association of Hydrological Sciences IAHS in December 2017.

WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS)

• The WMO Hydrological Observing System (WHOS) is the hydrological component of WIGOS and the WMO Information System (WIS) and aims at facilitating sharing of, and access to, hydrological data.

• Following the instructions of CHy-15, an initial implementation plan, covering issues such as governance, architecture, relationships with WIGOS and WIS centres, provision of metadata into the Observing Systems Capability Analysis, has been developed and is under review by the Advisory Working Group at the moment of writing this report.

• As a follow-up to one of the pilot projects established CHy-14 to test the use of WaterML 2.0, USAID/OFDA offered financial support to operationalize the prototype Hydrological Information System for the La Plata Basin, developed in accordance with the WHOS Phase II approach. The RA III Working Groups on Hydrology and Infrastructure jointly developed a work programme, which begun its implementation in April 2018 with a first training on WHOS software of the GISC-Brasilia IT specialists.

Global Hydrological Status and Outlook System (HydroSOS)

The WMO Hydrological Status and Outlook System HydroSOS, launched in 2017, will regularly provide information on current and future global hydrological conditions of groundwater, river flow, large lakes, reservoirs and soil moisture. The System will help identify when and where the current and future (from current to seasonal) hydrological situation could be significantly different from normal, indicating potential drought and flood situations.

HydroSOS will be built on in situ and remote sensing hydrological data, global/regional/basin scale weather, climate and hydrological models. It will primarily leverage existing information systems and global or regional meteorological and hydrological models, involving key partners from WMO Members and existing WMO programmes and projects.

A scoping meeting held in Entebbe, Uganda, in September 2017 helped to establish a workplan, identify the governance of the project and engage experts to be task team leaders. Important aspects of the workplan include two regionally-based pilots, one for the Lake Victoria Basin and the other on the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River basin. A global pilot is also being developed to allow broader coverage from the onset. A second meeting of task team leaders was held in April 2018 in Wallingford, UK. It should be noted that funding for all the proposed activities is not yet secured.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 13

Hydrological forecasting

The Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) with global coverage project continues to be implemented through a four-party MoU between WMO and the US National Weather Service, USAID/OFDA and the Hydrologic Research Center. There are currently 11 regional projects and two single-country applications that are at various levels of development, from initial planning to being fully operational. A total of 65 countries have or will soon have access to an FFGS to assist in early warnings of flash flooding. In addition to USAID/OFDA core funding, some components are being supported by CREWS and WBG funding. Investments from different sources are helping to develop advanced systems to enhance early warning capabilities, but much more remains to be done to bring similar capabilities to other developing countries.

Advances have been made in the development of a Community of Practice to advance implementation of End-to-End Early Warning Systems for Flood Forecasting. Guidance material for assessing national capabilities, allowing the design of interventions to strengthen components within the End-to-End System, has been developed. A catalogue of operationally proven models and platforms that can be used to build flood forecasting systems is under preparation.

Capacity building

Through the long-standing collaboration with the COMET@ programme, support was provided to distance learning courses delivered by the National Water Academy of India for RA II in October-November 2017 at the Basic level with 67 participants and in March-April 2018 at the Advanced Level with 80 participants. A new distance learning course for Hydrology Technicians was developed with the collaboration of COMET@ and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) of New Zealand and delivered for SIDS of RA V with 34 participants. This very practical course is being adapted to be delivered in RA I in the last quarter of 2018.

The open source MCH database management system has continued to be requested by several NMHS and as of April 2017 has been installed in 24 NMHS, 11 of which use it operationally as their only DBMS.

WMO guidance material

Following the request by CHy-15, the development of guidance material on Water Resources Assessment and on Flood Mapping has been undertaken.

Concerning the Water Resources Assessment (WRA), considering the objective difficulties in encompassing in a single document all the many aspects of WRA, and the need to respond to the requirement of a dynamic and adaptable guidance expressed by the Commission, it has been decided to develop a suite of publications clustered around an online, step-by-step, adaptable description of the WRA process.

The preparation of the Flood Mapping Manual is advancing through the contribution of a drafting group of experts, with a first draft expected by the third quarter of 2018 and the manual to be published in 2019.

The Guidance on Ecological Flow is following the CHy peer review process and it should be published before the end of 2018.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 14

HydroConference

From 7 to 9 May 2018 the “WMO Global Conference on prosperity through hydrological services” (HydroConference) took place in the WMO headquarters, bringing together 219 participants coming from 85 countries and 34 organizations, from Ministries responsible for water, meteorology, agriculture, energy, disaster risk reduction, economy, and development aid; hydrological and meteorological government agencies; environmental NGOs; academic and applied science research institutions; financing institutions; UN System agencies; and private sector entities.

The HydroConference adopted a statement, available on line, where it called for the formation of a partnership led by WMO under the umbrella of UN-Water to develop a framework and guidance for reinforcing hydrological services based on user needs in order to foster collaboration for sustainable, improved, tailored and affordable hydrological services. The statement reflected the widespread recognition of the leading role of WMO in advancing the complete hydrological value chain, including by the various dignitaries participating in the High level Segment. This provides an excellent opportunity to engage the support of the different communities represented in the HydroConference to the WMO water initiatives detailed in the previous sections.

6. Observations and data exchange

Observing network design and evolution

As part of the Rolling Review of Requirements (RRR) efforts were made in consultation with the Application Area Points of Contact to make the lists of Application Areas consistent in OSCAR/Requirements database. In particular, the list of climate related Application Areas was discussed and rationalized, reducing its number and introducing a new Climate Sciences Application Area (e.g. Ocean Applications, Aeronautical Meteorology, Atmospheric Chemistry and High-Resolution NWP). Observational user requirements were updated in OSCAR/Requirements for a few Application Areas. Efforts were made since the last IPET-OSDE meeting to come up with a coherent list of variables in the WIGOS Metadata Standard Code table 1-01 that can be used in OSCAR/Requirements, OSCAR/Surface and OSCAR/Space.

Planning implementation of upper air network, the Expert Team on Surface Based Observing Systems (ET-SBO) has advanced EGOS-IP Action G10 on the optimization of the radiosonde network through a survey conducted in November/December 2017.

Significant progress was achieved in best practices and guidance material on instruments and methods of observation, in particular on the area of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS). An update of WMO-No. 8, Guide to Meteorological Instruments and Methods of Observation’s chapter on AWS was drafted with an intense collaboration between HMEI and WMO, a set of standardized tender specification is available for Member for testing.

Significant advances were achieved on weather radars, initiating the activities of Inter Programme Expert Team on Operational Weather Radars (IPET-OWR) and developing best practices on radar programmes and procurement practices

A second WMO-ISO standard on Lidars was published.

Progress towards improving observations quality were achieved in particular focussing on the matter of traceability through, the review of the terrestrial radiation reference in collaboration with BIPM and the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), agreement for a unique system for traceability of pressure measurements, increased collaboration with calibration laboratories and in

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 15

particular Regional Instrument Centres (RICs) including review and publication of their services to Members.

Space Programme

Space Programme activities in 2017 led to major advances in defining and assessing the space-based component of WIGOS and to support Members in utilizing new-generation satellite data. WMO published two guidelines related to user readiness: Best practices for Achieving User Readiness for New Meteorological Satellites – Reference User Readiness Project (WMO-No. 1187) and Satellite Skills and Knowledge for Operational Meteorologists (WMO SP-12). A major step has been the completion of a 2040 Vision for the space-based component of WIGOS.

The Space Programme had a leading role in defining the physical Architecture for Climate Monitoring from Space in support of GFCS and DRR, establishing the new inventory on space-based ECV records within the CGMS-CEOS WG Climate (e.g. assessing over 1000 entries in the inventory) and formulating the response by space agencies to the 2016 GCOS Implementation Plan.

The Guide to the Direct Broadcast Network (DBNet; WMO-No. 1185) was published to define the minimum technical specifications and procedures applicable to the Direct Broadcast Network for Near-real-time Relay of Low Earth Orbit Satellite Data (DBNet) and provide guidance for implementing these specifications and procedures.

Development of space weather services (Four-year Plan 2016–2019).

WMO Integrated Observing System

National implementation

Guidance for national WIGOS implementation and Indicators for monitoring progress in the national implementation was developed and endorsed by EC-69. Guidance on WIGOS Data Partnerships has been developed by the Task team on WIGOS Data and Partnerships (TT-WDP) and will be submitted to EC-70 as a new chapter of the updated Guide to WIGOS.

WIGOS Regulatory Material was complemented with necessary guidance material to assist Members with the implementation of WIGOS technical regulations

Good progress was made in the drafting a new edition of the Manual on WIGOS, including the transition of the Manual on the Global Observing System (WMO-No. 544) with new provisions relevant to RBON, remote sensing, data quality monitoring, etc. Good progress was made also on updating the Guide to WIGOS with new chapters on: (a) Guidance on national WIGOS implementation; (b) Guidance on WIGOS Data Partnerships; (c) Establishing a Regional WIGOS Centre in pilot mode”; and other material fully developed for a new edition of the Guide. Both the draft Manual (new edition) and the draft Guide will be submitted to Cg-18.

Progress was also achieved in the further development of WIGOS Information Resource (WIR), with special emphasis on the operational deployment of the OSCAR databases, and in the concept development and initial establishment of Regional WIGOS Centres.

Concept development and initial establishment of Regional WIGOS Centres (RWCs)

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 16

RA I: Morocco and Tanzania jointly with Kenya are candidates for an RWC. Positive replies to the invitation letters are expected. Further, there is an intention to indicate potential candidates in each sub-region of RA I.

RA II: China and Japan expressed their interest in operating an RWC for Region II. Both countries are planning to host WIGOS workshops in the first half of 2018. Saudi Arabia has also expressed interest in operating an RWC for Western Asia. Belarus and the Russian Federation are both interested in operating an RWC for the Russian-speaking countries in RA II and RA VI.

RA III: The concept of a virtual RWC in RA III, using available facilities and the roadmap/timeline were developed; they will be submitted to the RA III session in October for endorsement. The process of nomination of the candidates for an RWC was initiated with an expectation to finalize the selection process by Cg-18. By the end of 2019 the RWC will be ready for auditing.

RA IV: To consider the establishment of three (sub)regional WIGOS centres in RA IV, each with responsibilities and a governance mechanism to be defined. No current commitments or expressions of interest. It is hope that some potential candidates will have come forward by EC-70.

RA V: Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Singapore expressed their willingness to serve as an RWC, namely. RA V Management Group will consider these nominations during EC-70.

RA VI: An RWC in pilot mode with partial functionality is operated by DWD under EUMETNET funding. Croatia expressed interest in operating a specialized RWC for marine observations and Belarus expressed interest in hosting an RWC for Russian-speaking countries in RA-II and RA-VI.

WMO Information System

A pilot project regarding the Cache in the cloud was initiated to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of data synchronization among Global Information System Centres (GISCs) by using cloud technology.

WIS monitoring operational procedures were developed and agreed on by representatives of GISCs. GISC Beijing and Tokyo will maintain the WIS Common Dashboards with monitoring data provided by all other GISCs.

WIS operations coordination were enhanced and an arrangement among all GISCs to watch the status of WIS on a daily basis was agreed on by the GISCs who will take turns to carry out the duties. Draft generic audit process was developed for the assessment of any WMO centre operated by members, in addition to those centres providing WIS services.

Data representation maintenance: five amendments of the Manual on Codes were managed through the fast-track and standard procedures.

Evolution of WIS: the first WMO Workshop on Information Management was jointly organized by CBS and CCl. Representatives from all programmes of WMO and related Earth environment area were invited to the workshop. The workshop and the subsequent meeting of the Task Team on IM discussed on key aspects of information management component of WIS and developed the concept of information management maturity model.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 17

7. Data processing, modelling and forecasting

Global Data Processing and Forecasting

• The Manual on Global Data Processing and Forecasting (GDPFS), WMO-No. 485) published in February 2018 following EC-69 approval. With the approval for the Manual, EC-69 also approved the designation of a number of new centres including five additional World Meteorological Centres (WMCs) bringing the number of these centres to eight. Other requests for new centres designation will be submitted for your consideration.

• Efforts were made for the development of the Implementation plan of Seamless GDPFS. The draft plan will be tabled for your consideration as requested at EC-69.

Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project

• With expansion of SWFDP to West Africa and Eastern Caribbean in 2017, the number of regional subprojects has grown to eight with involvement of over 75 developing countries and SIDS, including LDCs in basically all Regions of WMO. Interest in other regions has been signalled.

• Support and contributions from advanced NMHSs hosting WMCs, RSMCs and RTCs were key to the implementation and expansion of SWFDP.

• Meetings of Management Team and Training Workshops have been organized in Southeast Asia, Caribbean and West Africa.

Assistance to Members in case of emergency through Secretariat and Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres

• Coordination of meteorological support to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) during Balkan refugees’ crisis - A partnership arrangement between UNHCR, WMO Secretariat and UK-Met with involvement of over 17 to make available high quality meteorological information along refugees’ routes in Central Europe to ensure adequate decision-making by UNCHR.

• Assisted Iraq during a heavy rain and flooding situation threatening a dam.

• Participation at regular Emergency Response Activities (ERAs) exercises related to nuclear accidents.

8. Polar and high mountain regions

Polar and high mountain observations, research and services

• At the end of 2017, 27 new stations were assessed for potential inclusion in the Global Cryosphere Watch (GCW) surface observing network. These were recommended for consideration by the fifth session of the Steering Group of GCW (January 2018).

• Snow Best Practices were developed in conjunction with the Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO) for approval by CIMO-17.

• Sea Ice and Glacier Best Practices were initiated and first draft outlined. GCW proposed to CIMO to develop a Part Ib on the WMO-No. 8 Guide on the measurement of cryosphere variables, as a joint CIMO-GCW Guide to observations.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 18

• GCW Data Portal interoperability with other data centres was established at metadata level. The Data portal meeting (14–15 September 2017) engaged representatives of CryoNet stations and data centres for joint planning for advancing the interoperability.

• Demonstration project on Interoperability with the Weissfluhjoch CryoNet cluster was completed.

• Survey of data management systems of all CryoNet and contributing stations was completed.

• Guidelines to CryoNet data centres on establishing interoperability, draft 1, was made available.

• Over 2000 new terms were added to the GCW Glossary of Cryosphere Terms.

• Assessment of terminology from the GCW Glossary and input to WIGOS Metadata Standard was initiated.

• Snow Tracker and Annual assessments of cryosphere components was developed and made available on the GCW website.

• Joint planning with the Arctic PRCC network on cryosphere products was ensured with support from GCW.

• Contribution to NiViz Software was developed in collaboration with other organizations, for snow profiles interactive/visualization.

The Tropical Cryosphere Watch workshop (Tanzania, 4–6 July 2017) brought together countries from RA I (Tanzania, Kenya, Dem Rep Congo, Morocco), RA III (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) and RA V (Indonesia) and resulted in increased engagement, understanding of specific issues and opportunities, linkages between research and operational communities and the proposal of the first CryoNet station in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.

GCW was represented at the UNESCO workshop in Mendoza (Argentina), which reinitiated the collaboration between UNESCO IHP and GCW.

Engagements in activities related to High Mountains (Alpine Meteorology Conference, Third Pole Science Summit, UNESCO workshop in Mendoza, Mountain Partnership Initiative, University of Zurich and RA II proposal from Pakistan) have provided the foundational information for the proposed guidelines, to be drafted in 2018, as basis for GCW regional engagements.

Engagement was ensured with the Arctic Data Committee of SAON on common approaches to arctic data management.

Active engagement was continued in current and future satellite snow missions (for a ~1 km daily global SWE product (EUMETSAT, CSA, NASA, SnowEx, ESA, etc.).

9. Research

World Climate Research Programme

WCRP is a recognized partner of UNFCCC for science and research. It continued provide strong presence at the COP23 and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) by providing the state-of-art climate science toward

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 19

the climate indicators, needs for fundamental science and partnerships toward addressing climate impact to/from habitability.

WCRP, in cooperation with IOC, has been actively working with the diverse group of urban and scientific organizations to organize the 2018 Cities and Climate Change Science Conference (Edmonton, Canada, March 2018). More than 750 climate scientists, urban practitioners and policymakers discussed ways to foster new scientific knowledge around climate change impacts on cities.

The Regional Sea Level Changes and Coastal Impacts Conference (July 2017, New York City, USA) assessed the state-of-the-art on regional sea level research that will be an important input to the next IPCC assessment.

The CORDEX Africa Impacts Atlas is being developed, providing information about the regional climate over West Africa and its impact on agriculture in terms of crop suitability at global mean temperatures of 1.5, 2 and 4 degrees above pre-industrial period, through web visualization. Atlases for other sectors will be developed as funding facilitates.

The sixth phase of WCRP Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) continues to move forward, although concerns are raised on the availability of resources to meet the timeline to provide the research and modelling basis for IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. The expected cumulative output of CMIP6, which the community hopes will not exceed ten petabytes, stimulates a parallel planning effort to handle, distribute and systematically evaluate that vast information stream.

WCRP review by co-sponsors will be discussed under item 10 on Research.

Commission for Atmospheric Sciences

The Commission for Atmospheric Sciences held a successful Science Summit in October 2017 in which broad community involvement was assured through a new and innovative working methodology that encouraged interaction and contribution by all participants. The five thematic sessions of the Science Summit were:

o Seamless prediction in 2023 - Improving predictive capacity across weather, climate, water and environment;

o Future infrastructures - Planning and investing in future infrastructures (computing, data-handling, observations);

o Science for services - Developing and implementing a new interactive model for integrating research and operations;

o Nurturing scientific talents - Guaranteeing the sustainable development of science; breaking through geographical, gender and age barriers; ensuring institutional continuity and transfer of knowledge;

o Innovation and resources - Catalysing innovation and mobilizing resources in weather, climate, water and environment research globally and locally.

The ideas and suggestions that were developed during the Science Summit directly fed into CAS-17 and recommendations will be made to Cg-18.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 20

Global Atmosphere Watch Programme

Major review of the GHG measurement recommendations was conducted at the 19th WMO/IAEA Meeting on Carbon Dioxide, Other Greenhouse Gases and Related Measurement Techniques (GGMT-2017), Dübendorf, Switzerland, 27–31 August 2017. In the preparation to the meeting further steps were made to improve collaboration with IAEA on the stable isotopic measurements.

The proposal related to coordinated observations between atmospheric and the ocean GHG community was developed and submitted to the Prince Albert Foundation.

GAW supported organization of the forty-four session of GESAMP (Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection) and a related side event on connection between climate change and the oceans in September 2017

Terms of reference for the IG3IS office were developed and MoU were signed with the Swiss partners to support the establishment of the IG3IS office at WMO, IG3IS was presented at the several international meetings and related projects and included as one of the key projects of the collaboration agreement between WMO and UNFCCC, IG3IS was also mentioned in the SBSTA report of the COP-23.

The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin 2017 was issued, receiving 5 000 citations.

A concept of the air quality forecasting from global to urban scale with the special focus on Africa was developed and respective workshop was organized in Pretoria in December 2017.

The expert group on the low-cost sensor of atmospheric chemical composition observations was compiled between several agencies (including UN Environment, WHO and other organizations) led by WMO and respective recommendations were developed for presentation at EC-70 under item 10 on Research.

World Weather Research Programme

High Impact Weather Project

Increased awareness and acceptance of a seamless approach to weather-related hazard warnings across multiple physical and social science disciplines, through coupled hazard models, impact-based warnings and risk communication:

o HIGHWAY, a pilot nowcasting service for Lake Victoria storms with different strands: Creating a shared governance structure through the East African Commission; Improving access to observations of the Lake weather through better sharing and piloting new capabilities

o RELAMPAGO, a field experiment to study the extreme thunderstorms in the La Plata basin of South America, has been funded by the US NSF in collaboration with the Argentine Weather Service.

o ICE-POP2018: Planning is well advanced for an FDP to accompany the Seoul Winter Olympics in 2018.

Polar Prediction Project

The Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP) was launched and, given that the Core Phase has only just started, all the steps taken since 2013 have paved the way for a successful YOPP during the Preparation Phase (2013 – mid 2017). Actual improved

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 21

understanding and prediction capacity – in polar regions and beyond – will be achieved only over the course of the whole YOPP including the Core and Consolidation Phases.

Official launch of the Year of Polar Prediction on 15 May 2017 Extension of YOPP endorsement process to institutional endorsement.

Collaboration with EUMETNET resulting in funding for dedicated radiosonde launches and additional buoy deployments (cooperation with AARI) for the Arctic SOPs.

Finalization of a YOPP Modelling Plan (version 1) that summarises planned activities, defines experimental settings and common model output and provides recommendations.

Sub-Seasonal to Seasonal Prediction Project

High-Impact Weather and its socioeconomic effects in the context of global change:

Created the S2S database of sub-seasonal forecasts and reforecasts from 11 state-of-the-art models to enable assessment of their skill at predicting high-impact weather events such as tropical cyclones, heat/cold waves and their socioeconomic impacts.

Improve understanding of linkages between tropical regions and higher latitudes and assess skill of models representing these linkages, to help elicit the influence of tropical climate change and variability on higher latitude weather: Training course and Workshop at ICTP in October 2017.

10. Capacity development

Regional Programme

Regionalizing WMO

WMO is committed to strengthening the Regional Offices and their direct support to Members. Process for relocation of Regional Offices for Asia-SW Pacific (RAP) and Africa (RAF) progressing well. Signing ceremony for hosting of RAP Office in Singapore took place on 21 August 2017. Opening of office anticipated in August 2018 with 2 additional professional staff added. Host Country Agreement with Ethiopia for the relocation of RAF to Addis Ababa to be signed shortly. Supplemental Agreement is under negotiations. Office establishment anticipated end of 2018.

Additionally, a Project Office has been established in Zagreb, Croatia to support the World Bank financed second phase of SEE-MHEWS-A project while negotiations are underway with Belarus for the establishment of the WMO Eurasian Office in Minsk with the Host Country Agreement submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus for approval.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 22

Enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of regional mechanisms

A new format for Regional Association Sessions was piloted for RA VI with much reduced time frames and associated costs. Sessions including RECO are now limited to 5 days in total and agenda is fully “regionalized” and determined by the Management Group in consultation with members ensuring full ownership of the process.

The RA VI-17 session was held from 7 to 9 February 2018, in Geneva, in WMO Headquarters. Dr Michael Staudinger, Permanent Representative of Austria and Executive Director of the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, was elected as RA VI president. Dr Kornélia Radics, Permanent Representative of Hungary and President of the Hungarian Meteorological Service was elected as RA VI vice-president. RA III (November) and V (October) will follow similar format / preparation process.

New Projects / Enhancements Project Management

Electronic Project Management System (ePMRS) now under testing;

ACREI (7M) and WISER (4M GBP) funded for East Africa Region;

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany - project “Applying seasonal climate forecasting and innovative insurance solutions to climate risk management in the agriculture sector in SE Asia” (8M);

Canada Pacific / SE Asia (USD 7.5M) and the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative (USD 2.5M Pacific / 5.5 M Caribbean) project to support DRR and MHEWS in SIDS and Southeast Asia (SeA);

GCF project preparation grant for project “Enhancing early warning system to build greater resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards in Pacific SIDS – Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Vanuatu”;

MHEWS SE Europe funded by World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (WB/GFDRR).

Major Events - Ministerial Engagements

Second Development Partners Conference organized by WMO and WB/GFDRR (Geneva, 21–22 March 2018) on partnership for resource mobilization.

AMCOMET-Africa HydroMet Forum Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 12 to 15 September 2017 co-hosted with WB and the African Union Commission (AUC) which saw some 55 African countries participate with more than 30 Ministerial representatives; third Bureau of AMCOMET was held in tandem.

Pacific Meteorological Council, Meeting (Honiara, Solomon Islands, 7–8 August 2017) with Ministerial Level segment that had Ministerial representation from all PICs including four deputy Prime Ministers.

LAS Permanent Committee on Meteorology and the Council of Ministers responsible for Meteorology and Climate (April 2018).

Education and Training Activities

Fellowship awards

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 23

• 121 fellowships were awarded in the past year to experts from least developed and developing countries.

Training awards

111 experts were sponsored for training in various WMO Regional Training Centres (RTCs) and other institutions. In total, WMO RTCs supported 2 553 international participants.

• Twenty-eighth Session of the EC Panel of Experts Education and Training.

The twenty-eighth session of the EC Panel of Experts on Education and Training, was held on 17–19 April 2018 at the Kenya Meteorological Department, Nairobi. New set of Education and Training priorities to be taken into account in the development and delivery of programme priorities through Congress, EC, Regional Associations and Technical Commissions.

Symposium on Education and Training (SYMET) and Meeting of Directors of RTCs and training institutions.

Thirteenth WMO Symposium on Education and Training (SYMET-XIII) (Bridgetown, Barbados, 30 October 2017) held in conjunction with SYMET 2017, a one-day WMO RTC Directors Meeting. The meetings focused on the business of RTCs, development goals specific to the WMO RTC network and other work and decisions for increasing the visibility.

Global Campus

The WMO Global Campus Working Group has been meeting monthly in the past two years for planning and documenting progress on this work plan. The Working Group guides the activities of the feasibility study and has led the development of the WMO Global Campus Roadmap, which expands upon and replaces the previous work plan. The Roadmap is now in its final drafting stage and is available on the WMOLearn portal on the WMO public website.

Report of 2017 Survey on Status of Human Resources in NMHSs was finalized. Findings incorporated into the Country Profile Database (CPDB).

Focus on Management Development and Training

NMHSs need to remain effective in a complex and rapidly changing environment and ensure that full use is made of the organization's scientific and technical capabilities. NMHSs require managers who can direct the organization’s activities and personnel, whilst providing leadership that inspires others to fulfil their potential and meet their personal goals and those of the organization. The Education and Training Office has been developing training resources to support this endeavour. The Office has also been facilitating management training activities conducted by Regional Training Centres and other training providers. It is planned to integrate management training into the curricula of RTCs.

11. Partnerships

Memorandums of understanding with UN and other international organizations

Since EC-69, the SG continued his efforts to strengthen the collaboration with organizations of the UN system, other international organizations and national governments or institutions. In particular, the SG signed MoUs with FAO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Secretariat of UNFCCC to facilitate the implementation of national and regional projects concerning climate

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 24

adaptation and the modernization of NMHSs. Following consultation between the SG and the SG of ICAO, the 1963 working arrangement between the two Organizations is being revised and is expected to be finalized soon.

WMO signed an agreement with the UN Appeals Tribunal as an appeal court in substitution of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation.

MoUs were signed with the International Air Transport Association, EUMETSAT, EUMETNET and ECMWF (for the continuation of the Joint Office in Brussels), the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre and the World Energy and Meteorological Council. Agreements of different nature were signed with institutions from many Members (Croatia, Indonesia, Japan, Russian Federation, Norway, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden and Swiss Federation). The agreement with the Government of the Republic of Singapore enabled the opening of the WMO Regional Office for the Asia-Pacific region.

UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and co-sponsored activities with IOC/UNESCO

The joint WMO Bureau – IOC Officers meeting (17 February 2018) noted that the collaboration between WMO and IOC is currently formalized into five separate MoUs covering co-sponsored programmes (GCOS, GOOS, WCRP) and JCOMM. The meeting recommended the development of a framework agreement between the two Organizations to ensure a more coherent and effective approach as to engagement in co-sponsored programmes and broader themes such as climate. The two secretariats have developed a first draft of the agreement, which will be finalized for signature at the eighteenth Congress and the thirtieth IOC Assembly in 2019 consistently with the outcomes of the WMO reform including JCOMM.

The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) represents an opportunity for collaborative work in ocean research, observation and services supported by robust science to underpin decision-making. WMO has been invited to collaborate in preparation and planning for the Decade and underlined that ocean is crucial for weather and climate forecasting and prediction, including phenomena such as ENSO, and which builds knowledge for sustainable development and more specifically, decision-making for safety of life at sea and in coastal areas.

An Ocean Position Paper (Inf. 12.3) is being submitted to EC-70 for endorsement as an initial reflection on WMO foci in weather services for maritime safety and coastal protection, sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting and long-term predictions that can be contributed to the Decade in implementation of the Strategic Plan 2020–2023. The paper builds also on the WMO contribution to the Ocean Conference 2017, where it presented four voluntary commitments (Weather and climate services for African, Caribbean and Pacific SIDS; Responding to El Niño: improving international coordination for improved early warning; The Year of Polar Prediction; IN-MHEWS and GMAS). WMO further proposed an intensified period (4 years) of ocean observations to support research and marine services, offered to co-lead activities related to the goal on ocean-related hazards and to host a technical event as a contribution to the Decade (in 2018 or 2019).

Resource mobilization and development partnerships

The Secretariat has been scaling up its partnerships with the major provider of financial resources. In March 2017, an MoU was signed with the World Bank and it is envisioned that WMO will provide technical expertise for the design and implementation of World Bank co-financed hydrometeorological projects.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 25

Engagement with the Green Climate Fund has been stepped up and discussions are at advanced stage for WMO to become the strategic technical expert advisor on developing and implementing the Green Climate Fund’s climate rationale policy. This policy will ensure that the fund’s climate finance resources are provided based on best available data and science with NMHSs playing a key role. At the same time, it is envisioned that WMO is going to provide technical expert advice to accredited entities developing and implementing Green Climate Fund co-financed hydrometeorological projects.

Jointly with the World Bank and UNISDR and thanks to the financial support from France and other Members, the Secretariat has initiated and launched the CREWS initiative, aiming at strengthening in a coordinated manner climate resilient early warning system in least developed countries. With the first countries already receiving support, the challenge is now to fully secure the targeted minimum funding of the initiative of 100 million USD.

While there is an abundance of projects and increasing financial resources available in support of NMHSs, there are still capacity gaps that individual projects cannot fill. To close these gaps, the Secretariat plans to set up a WMO Country Support Programme, aiming at providing hands-on and just-in-time support and technical advice to developing countries – bringing the WMO community vast knowledge and experience in a tailored manner to developing countries.

Finally, to strengthen its relevance and value for developing countries and increase its impact through partnerships, the SG has reshaped the Office for Development Partnerships and integrated it in the Cabinet and External Affairs department with the office now working under his direct guidance.

12. Quality management

The WMO quality management framework (QMF) has been enhanced by the publication of the updates Policy Statement adopted by Resolution 19 (EC-69). The policy statement has been circulated to all Members to underpin the implementation of national quality management frameworks.

Another important step was the publication of a new edition of the WMO Guide to the Implementation of Quality Management Systems for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and Other Relevant Service Providers (WMO-No. 1100). This edition is based on the new ISO 9001:2015 quality management standard and will assist Members in the migration of their QMS to the new standard which will become mandatory in September 2018. In particular, Members should ensure that the aeronautical meteorological service providers will migrate their QMSs to the new ISO standard on time.

The introduction of the quality management requirements in the Volume I of the Technical Regulations (WMO-No.49, edition 2015 updated in 2017), which cover all service delivery areas and major programmes, is a clear signal to Members that the quality assurance should become a mainstream management practice for all NMHSs. Moreover, the growing global weather enterprise with broad participation of the private sector, creates a very competitive environment in the delivery of weather, climate and water services which will require from the service providers a constant evidence and proof of quality.

13. Gender equality

Work in the area of gender equality focused on implementation of the WMO Gender Action Plan (GAP) endorsed by Decision 77 (EC-68) and specifically on the priority actions identified for 2016–2019 by the EC Advisory Panel of Experts on Gender Mainstreaming.

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 26

Support to WMO constituent bodies

• In response to the request of Decision 77 (EC-68), the Secretariat provided support to constituent bodies in GAP implementation. Gender was put on the agenda of all sessions in 2016–2017 and comparative statistics provided on the gender balance in delegations and working structures.

• Upon request, the Secretariat organized a series of Women’s Leadership Workshops targeted at female delegates to constituent body sessions and female professionals from Member States. Following the success of the Women’s Leadership in Hydrology Workshop ahead of CHy-15, WMO replicated the event on the margins of JCOMM-5 in October 2017 and CAgM-17 in April 2018.

• The two-day trainings aimed at building a cohort of female leaders in the hydrological, marine and agrometeorological communities, who would join the Commissions’ structures and contribute to their scientific work. The curriculum was oriented towards building a set of practical leadership skills, with a focus on communications, negotiations and consensus-building.

• Remarkably, a 20% increase was registered in female representation at the JCOMM-5 session, up from 17% in 2012 to 37% in 2017. A similar effect was observed CHy-15, where the proportion of female delegates rose from 25% in 2012 to 36% in 2016.

Advancing gender equality at the WMO Secretariat

• The leadership skills of 36 mid-career female professionals were built at a Women’s Leadership Workshop held in February 2018. Several female directors further participate in the 2018 Action Learning/Peer Coaching Network managed by WTO.

• Mandatory training on unconscious bias and gender sensitivity continues being offered. Two sessions were held in May-June 2017 targeted at Secretariat staff involved in the organization of meetings, communications and project management. The training raised awareness of gender stereotypes and familiarized participants with the link between gender equality and WMO’s mandate.

• As of March 2018, there was parity between female and male professional staff at grades P-1 to P-4, with women representing 48%. This represents a considerable improvement since 2002 when women accounted for only 29% of professional staff. Women continue being underrepresented in senior management (P-5 and above) where they stand for 21% of staff, though a slight increase of 2% was registered in comparison to 2016.

• The United Kingdom of Great Britain provided voluntary contributions to all three women’s leadership workshops held ahead of technical commission meetings. The University of Southern Queensland, Australia, sponsored the travel of participants to the Women’s Agrometeorology Leadership Workshop, whereas the United States of America provided an instructor as in-kind assistance to the JCOMM workshop. The Republic of Korea and Indonesia kindly hosted two of the events.

• WMO continues maintaining a close partnership with UN Women and Geneva-based UN entities on implementation of the UN-SWAP and the International Gender Champions Initiative.

• Voluntary contributions are required to the Gender Trust Fund to facilitate GAP implementation.

• Accelerated action is needed on ensuring gender-sensitive service provision, including the collection of country-level examples of the gendered impacts of

EC-70/INF. 2.2, p. 27

weather and climate, the sharing of replicable good practice and the formulation of concrete, regionally-specific mitigation strategies and actions.

• Further effort is necessary at the regional level in terms of fostering female leadership, increasing female participation in WMO governance and addressing gender in service provision.

14. Communication and public affairs

The objectives of the WMO communications and outreach activities are to (a) increase the visibility of WMO and NMHSs; (b) inform decision-makers and the general public; (c) attract political, financial and practical support; and (d) build partnerships.

• Record media coverage of the 2016 Statement on State of the Global Climate and the 2017 Provisional Statement enhanced the scientific authority of WMO. The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin received extensive coverage on all major television and media outlets.

• There was unprecedented coverage of World Meteorological Day and the International Cloud Atlas on all major television channels, newspaper and online outlets. Facebook reached one million people – 500 000 alone for the WMO ceremony on Facebook Live.

• Very popular animations were released on Why the World Needs Meteorologists and the WMO Polar Prediction Project: Year of Polar Prediction. A new series of videos with TV weather presenters on climate change in cities received widespread acclaim.

• A new infrastructure and standard template permits WMO to generate secure, quick and professional sites at low cost. Five new websites are hosted on the platform. HTML versions were created for the Russian and Spanish Bulletins. Online MailChimp subscriptions were launched for both MeteoWorld and the Bulletin.

• Social media outreach and web stories highlighted the Women’s Leadership in marine meteorology and International Women’s Day on 8 March. The Acting Chief and Media Officer of CPA were recognized as WMO Gender Champions on 8 March 2018.

• More media training and concise English writing workshops should be organized for staff. Training in presentation skills is also needed. But the departure of C/CPA at the end 2017 (though early retirement) leaves CPA one person short.

• The IPA Focal Points network needs strengthening to enhance effectiveness of partnership between the Secretariat and NMHSs. Voluntary funds are needed to sustain the weather presenters’ project.

• Printing has been outsourced by WMO, as a consequence there have been 6-8 weeks delays in the delivery of the Bulletin and MeteoWorld and the budget for both has increased. The Secretariat is encouraging subscribers to move to online Mailchimp subscriptions.

• No World Met Day theme was selected for 2019 at the last EC. The theme needs to be workable from a communication and NMHSs perspective. For example, the Cloud theme was immensely successful for NHMS and communications. The World Met Day webpage is the second most visited on the WMO website with 50 000-page views in the last year.

____________