25 June 2016: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will strengthen its support for global agreements on climate change, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and sustainable development, following resolutions adopted by the 68th session of its Executive Council on, inter alia: reinforcing WMO climate programmes; strengthening work on high-impact weather research and forecasts; improving and extending polar research and observations to include high mountain regions; supporting ocean monitoring; and promoting modern aviation meteorology services.

During the session, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas underlined that May 2016 was the 13th consecutive month to break global temperature records, and called for harnessing the “ingenuity and innovation of science.” The Council supported maintaining the role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services as the “single authoritative source” of warnings, an official source of weather, climate and hydrological information services, and a harnesser of innovation and technology for private weather-services.

The first-ever dialogue devoted to cooperation between the public and private sectors was also held, with the Council supporting greater cooperation between the two sectors through a strategy to guide future development of “win-win” public-private partnerships.

The Council also agreed to: strengthen results-oriented, impact- and risk-based weather and climate activities; increase the WMO’s authority and relevance in supporting the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; and, in support of the Paris Agreement, develop an Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Information System to provide governments with scientifically sound and objective carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements to ensure more targeted measures for limiting emissions.

The WMO will also continue improving the provision and use of climate services, such as seasonal outlooks, for agriculture and food security, water management, health, DRR and energy.

The Council decided to establish a mechanism recognizing the importance of long-term observing stations that have 100 or more years of weather observations, based on the need to sustain long-term observation datasets relevant to climate research and services.

In addition, the Council discussed ways to streamline WMO Secretariat operating procedures to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, and approved the nomination of Elena Manaenkova as Deputy Secretary-General and Wenjian Zhang as Assistant Secretary-General, who will assume their positions as of 1 September 2016. Manaenkova has been WMO Assistant Secretary-General since June 2010, leading the WMO’s efforts to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women. Zhang currently serves as Director of the WMO’s Observing and Information Systems Department and of the WMO Space Programme.

On the margins of the Council meeting, the Caribbean Meteorological Organization and Météo-France, the meteorological service of France, signed an agreement to improve cooperation on weather services in the Caribbean through a formal mechanism for improving direct collaboration between Meteorological Services and agencies that use different languages.

The Executive Council, which met from 15-24 June 2016, in Geneva, Switzerland, is the WMO’s executive body and meets annually. Among other functions, it implements WMO Congress decisions, coordinates programmes, examines use of budgetary resources, and takes action on issues affecting international meteorology and related activities. [WMO Press Release on Council Outcomes] [WMO Press Release on Protecting Long-Term Climate Records] [WMO Press Release on Cooperation with the Caribbean] [Video on Protecting Long-Term Climate Records]