VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0600/01 2011345
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201345Z JUL 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8882
RUCPDC/NOAA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDOI/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3087

UNCLAS GENEVA 000600 
 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO IO/T FOR RDISSELKOEN 
STATE PASS TO OES/EGC FOR SYOFFE 
STATE PASS NOAA FOR JHAYES, WBOLHOFFER, DTHOMPSON, KBARRETT 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: SENV WMO ENRG SENV TPHY TSPA ECOSOC
SUBJECT:  Review of WMO Climate Programs and the World Climate 
Conference-3 from the WMO Executive Council 
 
¶1. Summary.  During the WMO Executive Council (EC) LXI meeting held 
in Geneva from June 3-12, members reviewed the progress of WMO 
climate programs, made recommendations for their future direction 
and organization, and provided guidance to the WMO Secretary General 
on preparations for the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3).  The 
full report of this session of the EC is available on line at: 
ftp://ftp.wmo.int/Documents/SESSIONS/EC/EC- 
LXI/English/Approved/app_wp03-2_en.doc. 
 
¶2. The U.S. delegation was successful in obtaining consensus for 
Council to refrain from making decisions about future WMO structures 
or about the proposed Global Framework on Climate Services (GFCS) 
prior to the WCC-3.  This helped the EC avoid pre-empting 
negotiations on the WCC-3 declaration or from drawing conclusions 
prematurely about the relationship between the GFCS, the WMO, and 
other UN bodies.  EC members strongly advocated that National 
Meteorological Services play a lead role in the GFCS.  The WCC-3 
will take place in Geneva from August 31-September 4 and will be 
divided into a three-day "Expert Segment" followed by a two-day 
"High-level Segment" where the declaration and national statements 
will be issued.  U.S. representation at the conference is under 
consideration by the Executive Office of the President, Department 
of State, and NOAA.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Agenda Highlights 
WMO Climate Related Constituent Bodies 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. The Council noted that WMO climate activities are guided by a 
number of constituent bodies and urged enhanced interaction and 
coordination between these bodies, and relevant associated bodies at 
the regional and national levels. The Council noted that the WCRP 
JSC and CCl would hold their first joint session at the fifteenth 
session of the CCl (CCl-XV) (Antalya, Turkey, February 2010). 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Enhancing Capabilities of Members to Provide 
Better Climate Predictions and Assessments 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. The Council reiterated the importance, acknowledged progress 
where applicable, and encouraged Members to address remaining gaps 
and needs with regard to Data Rescue activities for climate science 
and applications, the plan of the Expert Team on Climate Change 
Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) to develop the guidelines on 
''Extremes in a changing climate'', Climate Watch Systems, 
implementation of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), 
contributions of the WCRP Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment 
(GEWEX), and the major modelling efforts being planned and 
coordinated by WCRP as input to the next assessment cycle of the 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (AR5). 
 
------------------------------ 
Operational Climate Prediction 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5. The Council appreciated the review taken at the completion of the 
10 years of the RCOF process (Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 
3-7 November 2008), and the ongoing efforts to expand, improve and 
standardize the activities and outputs under the process. The 
Council urged all Members with interests in the Polar Regions, in 
either hemisphere, to actively contribute to the relevant efforts to 
identify the priority user requirements for climate information in 
these regions. 
 
¶6. The Council expressed satisfaction with the sustained efforts to 
issue consensus-based WMO El Nio and La Nia Updates. It expressed 
its satisfaction that Moscow (Russian Federation) and Pretoria 
(South Africa) have been approved for formal designation as WMO 
Global Producing Centres of Long Range Forecasts (GPCs) and that 
Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and NOAA's National 
Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) have been approved 
jointly as a new WMO Lead Centre for Long-Range Forecast Multi-Model 
Ensemble (LC-LRFMME). 
 
------------------------------- 
Regional Climate Centres (RCCs) 
------------------------------- 
 
¶7. The Council noted the growing interest of Members, and user 
groups in the establishment of Regional Climate Centres, to provide 
a range of regional-scale climate information. The Council urged the 
 
Secretary-General to promote rapid expansion of the RCC network to 
cover all Regions, and in particular to place high priority on 
meeting the climate-related needs of developing and least developed 
countries, and to facilitate opportunities for extra-budgetary 
support for RCC development. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
EC Working Group on Climate and Related Weather, 
Water and Environmental Matters (ECWG-CWE) 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. The Council noted that the ECWG-CWE had considered possible 
re-orientation of the WCP, with an emphasis on enhancing climate 
services with adequate focus on user interaction.  The Council also 
noted that the expected outcomes of World Climate Conference-3 
(WCC-3) in the form of the Global Framework for Climate Services 
(GFCS) would be in line with many of the stated goals of the Climate 
Agenda and that the Climate Agenda should eventually be formally 
retired and replaced by the GFCS, but agreed to defer its final 
recommendation on the future of the WCP and the Climate Agenda until 
EC-LXII. 
 
----------------------------------- 
World Climate Conference -3 (WCC-3) 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9. The Council noted the outcomes of the second and third meetings 
of the WCC-3 International Organizing Committee (WIOC), including 
development of a Concept Note for a Global Framework for Climate 
Services (GFCS)' as the proposed outcome of WCC-3. 
 
¶10. The Council endorsed the overall concept of the proposed GFCS 
and noted that its successful implementation would facilitate the 
improvement of the existing climate services; the development of 
sector and user-targeted services; capacity building; and a more 
effective provider-user interface in the provision and application 
of climate services. The Council requested the Secretary-General to 
make every effort to ensure that NMHSs take a leading role in the 
service provision in the GFCS in cooperation with their partners, in 
order to make GFCS feasible and sustainable.  It urged the 
Secretary-General to prepare a position paper with the concurrence 
of ECWG-CWE on how WMO Programmes should become core elements of the 
GFCS, especially through the unique capabilities and capacities of 
the NMHSs, and to actively promote these contributions as elements 
of the proposed GFCS. 
 
¶11. The Council was informed that the WIOC has proposed that the 
further development of the GFCS into an action plan, following the 
WCC-3, be carried out by an ad hoc high level Task Force of 
independent advisors convened by the Secretary-General of WMO.  The 
Council recommended that the Task Force be established in a manner 
so as to ensure its accountability and that it operate under terms 
of reference that would deliver effective and realistic results in a 
timely manner. The Council recommended that an action plan developed 
by the Task Force be made promptly available by the WMO 
Secretary-General to the UN System through the Chief Executives 
Board for Coordination (CEB) and be considered under the Climate 
Knowledge Base activities of the 'UN System Delivering as One'. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. The Council agreed with the recommendations of the CCl 
Management Group that, as a project, CLIPS should have an 
appropriate sunset date and its accomplishments be consolidated 
should the GFCS assume the CLIPS legacy.  In this regard, the 
Council requested CCl to define the role the Commission would play 
in GFCS implementation and its future programme of work at its 
upcoming session (CCl-XV, February 2010), which would be integrated 
into the Secretary-General's comprehensive proposal to be submitted 
to the EC-LXII. 
 
GRIFFITHS 
 
 
 
 
EC-LXI/APP_WP 3.2, APPENDIX A