18 October 2011: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlighted the role of better climate services during the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), taking place in Changwon, Republic of Korea.

WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud addressed a roundtable on “Harnessing science knowledge for combating desertification, land degradation and drought: The path to improvement,” discussing how the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) will act as a tool to take pro-active disaster risk reduction (DRR) across all levels of society. Jarraud highlighted the importance of integrating climate services into discussions of combating desertification, noting that only 11% of the land service is used to feed the world’s population, and that climate impacts are expected to increase the magnitude of natural disasters and contribute to land degradation. He called for the global community to recognize that in the light of climate change, historic and traditional knowledge cannot be accepted as an indicator for the future. [WMO Press Release] [IISD RS Coverage of UNCCD COP 10]