The 2011 celebration of World Meteorological Day was organized around the theme "Climate for you." The Day aims to highlight key socioeconomic benefits that can be derived from climate as a resource.
23 March 2011: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) celebrated World Meteorological Day on 23 March in Geneva, Switzerland.
World Meteorological Day commemorates the coming into force of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950. The establishment of the WMO represented international coordination beyond the scope of what had previously been performed by the International Meteorological Organization. In his address to mark the date, Michel Jarraud, the Secretary-General of the WMO, recounted the contributions of the WMO to raising awareness of climate change through the First World Climate Conference in 1979, the establishment of the World Climate Research Programme and Global Climate Observing System and contributions to the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UNFCCC. Jarraud also described the current efforts of the WMO to develop operational warning systems for extreme events and to build capacity of developing countries and provide access to advanced weather prediction products.
Secretary General Jarraud noted that the theme for World Meteorological Day, “Climate for you,” highlights “an emerging window of opportunity from which to derive some key socioeconomic benefits from climate as a resource, thanks in particular to some of the most recent advances in climate science.” [World Meteorological Day]