|
Other key recommendations of the meeting include the commercialization of weather and climate services in the NMHSs. Decision makers were urged to support NMHSs to enhance service delivery in mitigating severe impacts associated with weather and climate extremes and ensure that NMHSs are the “single authoritative source” of warnings, and official source of weather, climate and hydrological information services.
|
|
WMO Secretary-General Inaugurates the Regional Association-I Management Group Meeting
|
|
Prof. Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the WMO, inaugurated the Regional Association I (RA-I, Africa) Management Group Meeting which took place 23-25 May 2016, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Secretary-General reiterated his wish to increase the development of African National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), in particular Least Developed Countries (LDC). He stressed that in order to achieve this, the approval of the RA I Operational Plan and the development of National Strategic Plans for NMHSs is critical.
|
|
|
The Secretary General also recalled the importance of the upcoming Conference on the Socio-Economic benefits of Meteorological Services (Madrid +10) which will highlight the contribution of NMHSs and reassured the meeting of his commitment to support the region.
The Management Group made recommendations and proposed initiatives to be implemented by 2019. These include the establishment of regional frameworks for climate services and National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) in Africa, and the implementation of the WMO Integrated Global Observing Systems / WMO Information Systems (WIGOS / WIS) Programmes. The Group also highlighted the importance of the Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP), which is expected to be scaled-up in all sub-regions, as well as the establishment of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). Finally the Management Group further reiterated the importance of the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology (AMCOMET) as a platform to be capitalized to ensure the increased visibility of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and as mechanism for their national governments for increased support in the enhancement of NMHS capacity.
|
|
WMO Secretary-General meets with Ethiopian President
|
|
The President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Dr. Mulatu Teshome, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Minister, Ambassador Taye Atske-Selassie met with the WMO Secretary General, Prof. Petteri Taalas, to discuss relocation of the WMO Regional Office for Africa from Geneva, Switzerland to Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia.
|
|
|
Prof. Taalas reiterated his gratitude to the Government of Ethiopia for the facility made available for WMO and the President of Ethiopia indicated that he was looking forward to welcoming WMO. The relocation is expected to take place in 2017.
|
|
WMO Secretary-General meets with Prof Judy Wakhungu, Cabinet Secretary for Kenya's Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
|
|
WMO Secretary-General, accompanied by Dr. Joseph Romanus Mukabana, Director, Offices for Africa and Least Developed Countries and AMCOMET Secretariat met with Prof Judy Wakhungu and Mr James Kongoti, the Permanent Representative of Kenya with WMO.
|
|
|
The discussions included WMO’s plans to support developing nations in Africa to enhance their ability to provide and disseminate weather and climate services, notably to support human capacity development and enhancing the observation network in Kenya. They also discussed the potential transformation of the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) into an agency in order to better serve its stakeholders. The Secretary General expressed his satisfaction with services KMD, particularly with regard to the support that it provides to other NMHSs in the region.
|
|
Republic of Rwanda, ECCAS and CEMAC sign the Kigali Declaration
|
|
The representatives further called upon the African Development Bank, EU, AMCOMET and other relevant partners to consider the capacity and needs of the CAPC-AC in their various initiatives for development in Central Africa. Representatives further requested the H.E. Dr. Vincent Biruti, Minister of Natural Resources of Rwanda to bring the Kigali Declaration to the attention of AMCOMET and relevant African Union organs.
|
|
AMCOMET Task Force hold talks on the African Space Programme
|
|
Following the approval of the African Space Policy and African Space Strategy, the AMCOMET Task Force on the African Space Programme met to discuss meteorological inputs to the African Space Implementation Plan. The meeting was held in Kigali, Rwanda on 11 September 2016.
|
|
|
Participants included representatives from Cabo Verde, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Seychelles and South Africa, the African Union Commission, ACMAD, AU Space Working Group, EUMETSAT, Group on Earth Observations, among others. Key outcomes and recommendations from the meeting include the development of a Pilot Project as input to the African Space Implementation Plan. Components of the Pilot Project would include identification of existing assets and gaps on the ground (infrastructure) and application segments, proposal on how to strengthen regional cooperation in the Application Segment, the step-by-step design elements to provide a cost-effective programme, avoid duplication and maximize complementarity with other components of the Global Observing System. The pilot project is also expected to take into consideration the long-standing partnership between Africa and Europe and their common interest in key environmental observations are major factors to be taken into account. These activities are critical meteorological inputs to the Implementation Plan of the African Regional Space Programme currently being developed by the AU Space Working Group.
|
|
12th EUMETSAT Forum takes place 12-16 September 2016 in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda
|
|
The EUMETSAT Forum facilitates dialogue between EUMETSAT and the community of African satellite data users, including National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and their regional centres.
|
|
|
The 12th Edition of the Forum focused PUMA 2015, the RA I Dissemination Expert Group, MESA and Global Monitoring for Environment and Security & Africa (GMES&Africa), including training activities in space and earth observations. The Forum also stressed on the need to ensure a smooth transition between the MESA and the GMES&Africa project. This will ensure that MESA achievements are consolidated, that the network already developed are strengthened and that they build on existing capacities and further strengthen the existing African expertise, institutional memory, systems organization, among others, essential to a successful start and implementation of the GMES&Africa, and long term sustainability. The Forum highlighted the key role AMCOMET in supporting African States in implementing a holistic approach to capacity development in exploiting satellite data and eventually to fully benefit from Meteosat Third Generation (MTG).
|
|
|
|
|
|