Let’s talk about the weather – and start preparing for changes!

Organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Norad.
 
The World Bank report “Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must Be Avoided” from November last year provides an alarming picture of the future. The report states that the poorest regions in the world will experience the largest climatic changes and the most serious impacts. Climate services are fundamental to avoid the worst consequences. Today, the most vulnerable parts of the world are the least covered by weather observation stations and meteorological services. 

 
The Global Framework for Climate Services of the WMO(GFCS) is a partnership of governments and organizations that produce and use climate information and services. It seeks to enable producers and users of information to join forces to provide user friendly climate services worldwide, particularly in developing countries. The main goal of the GFCS is “to enable better management of the risks of climate variability and change and adaptation to climate change, through the development and incorporation of science-based climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice on the global, regional and national scale". (World Climate Conference-3).

From the program:

• The Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization, Michel Jarraud, will present the State of the Global Climate, as well as aims and objectives of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).
• Minister of International Development, Heikki Holmås, will explain why support for the GFCS is a priority in Norway’s strategy on climate change adaptation and disaster prevention, and present some of the Norway-supported GFCS-projects in Africa, where mobile phones are used to reach out to fishermen and farmers with weather warnings and climate information.
• Jan Egeland, Co-Chair of the High Level Taskforce on GFCS and Deputy Director of Human Right Watch will clarify why climate services is of vital importance for the most vulnerable  populations (tbc)
• Anton Eliassen, Director General at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, will present climate services in Norway and offer some international perspectives.

Representatives of the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD, Nepal) and CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo will present their perspectives on GFCS.

All participants are encouraged to take part in the discussions.

Moderator: Asuncion Lera St. Clair, Research Director, CICERO Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo
 
Lunch prepared by immigrant women’s group Quo Vadis will be served.
 
 
Welcome!