WMO released 2020 State of Climate Services Report
The 2020 State of Climate Services report was released on the occasion of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on October 13, 2020 by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Highlights
The 2020 State of Climate Services report comprises of 16 different case studies on successful early warning systems for hazards such as tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, hurricanes, heatwaves, forest fires, desert locusts, dust and sand storms, severe winters and glacial lake outbursts.
The report highlights that, in the past 50 years, more than 11,000 disasters have occurred and have caused weather, climate and water-related hazards. The disaster involves 2 million deaths and economic losses of US $ 3.6 trillion. The report stated that, the average number of deaths recorded for each disaster has fallen by a third over a period of 50 years while, the number of recorded disasters has increased five times. Also, the economic losses have increased by seven times.
Key findings
- Extreme weather and climate events have increased in frequency, severity and intensity.
- One in three people are not adequately covered by early warning systems.
- In 2018, around 108 million people needed the help from the international humanitarian system because of storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.
- The report estimates that, by 2030 the number of people taking international humanitarian system could increase by 50% at a cost of around US$ 20 billion a year.
Recommendations
The report have identified where and how governments can invest for effective early warning systems. The system strengthen countries’ resilience to multiple weather, climate and water-related hazards. It also suggested for the need to switch to impact-based forecasting that will be an evolution from “what the weather will be” to “what the weather will do”. This would help people and businesses to act early on the basis of warnings.
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
It is a specialised agency of the United Nations. It is responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, hydrology, climatology, and geophysics. The organisation was established under the International Meteorological Organization founded in 1873. World Meteorological Convention of 1947 formally established the World Meteorological Organization. The Convention was enforced on 23 March 1950, and thereafter, WMO began its operations under the united nation (UN). The WMO comprises of 193 countries and territories. It has been headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.