Barbados to host international climate change conference
International weather, climate and water experts meet in Barbados later this week to discuss improving the capacity of hydro-meteorological services to address global challenges such extreme weather and long-term effects on climates a the upcoming climate change conference.
The three-day World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 13th Education and Training Symposium (SYMET-XIII) opens here on Monday and is being co-hosted by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH).
The WMO Assistant Secretary General (ASG) Dr. Weinjang Zhang, will address the event that takes place once every four years.
“The need to have competent meteorological, climatological and hydrological/water resources personnel is essential given the increasing challenges posed by extreme weather, increasing climate variability, long-term climate change and associated hydrological and water resources phenomena on socio-economic development worldwide,” said Dr. David Farrell, Principal of CIMH.
“Developing the levels of competence required in these fields to build more weather and climate resilient societies requires a coordinated effort globally. SYMET is an important component of this global coordination effort.”
The organisers said that SYMET-XIII will focus on three core themes, namely education and training essential for service delivery by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, increasing education and training capacity to meet current and expected increases in future demand especially in developing and least developed countries and Small Island Developing States and expanding partnerships to address global challenges including those associated with the COP 22 Paris Agreement and UN 2030 agenda and resource mobilization to support education and training needs.
They said that a key outcome of the training will be the continued strengthening of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services globally to deliver the requisite weather, climate and hydrological services required to build weather and climate resilient societies.
CIMH, which is celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is home to the WMO Caribbean Regional Training Centre (RTC) in the Caribbean. As SYMET-XIII co-host, CIMH said it will also hold a meeting for directors from all 26 WMO RTCs worldwide following the training symposium to discuss capacities and operations of these centres.
For more on the Barbados climate change initiatives, click the link: Barbados wants more attention paid to climate change
