World Meteorological Day                                         

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Context: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) would present an action plan on early warning systems at the 27th Conference of Parties (CoP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in November 2022, at Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt.

World Meteorological Day 2022 observed on 23 March 2022.

About Early Warning System:

• This early warning system for floods, droughts, heatwaves or storms, is an integrated system which alerts people to hazardous weather.
• It will also inform how governments, communities and individuals can act to minimise the possible impacts of the weather event.
• These systems will allow to monitor the real time atmospheric conditions on land and at sea and to effectively predict future weather and climate events using advanced computer numerical models.
• The aim is to understand what risks the foreseeable storms could bring to an area that will be affected — which may differ if it is a city or rural area, polar, coastal or mountainous regions.
• It will include lessons learned from past events, in order to continually improve responses ahead of future weather, climate, water and related environmental hazards.
• Need:
  • A third of the world’s people, mainly in least developed countries (LDC) and small island developing states (SIDS), are still not covered by early warning systems. In Africa, 60 per cent of people lack coverage.
  • Early warnings and action save lives and act as critical tools to reduce disaster risk and support climate adaptation.
  • In 2021, extreme weather events caused total damage worth $105 billion, which is the fourth-highest since 1970.
  • Between 1970 and 2019, a weather, climate or water-related disaster has occurred on average every day — taking the lives of 115 people and causing $202 million in losses daily, according to a 2021 WMO report on disaster statistics.
  • The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is set to rise due to more and more greenhouse gases being added to the atmosphere every year, resulting in warming.
  • Between 1970 and 2019, the number of recorded extreme weather events increased by 50 times due to climate change and better reporting.
  • The number of lives lost due to these events decreased by a factor of three due to better weather prediction and associated early warning systems.

World Meteorological Day 2022

• It celebrates the formation of World Meteorological Organization. This day is celebrated on 23 March each year.
• It helps people to understand and realise their role in protecting the atmosphere of the Earth. It makes people more aware of their surroundings.

World Meteorological Day 2022 History

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) came into existence on 23 March, in the year 1950.
• This intergovernmental organization has the membership of 193 UN member states.
• The WMO looks after four aspects that include weather, climate, water, and environment.
• The headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is situated in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The International Meteorological Organization (IMO) form the roots of the WMO. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) was inspected by Vienna International Meteorological Congress 1873.
• The WMO finally came into motion in the year 1950, by the sanction of the WMO convention.
• This organization became a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) after a year of its establishment.

World Meteorological Day 2022 Significance

• It concentrates on the global acknowledgement of different issues related to planet Earth.
• It helps to raise awareness against various issues and concerns of the Earth across the world. It raises concern among the people who live on the planet so that they take better care of their surroundings.

World Meteorological Day 2022 Theme

• World Meteorological Day 2022 has the theme "Early Warning and Early Action".
• World Meteorological Organization (WMO) concentrates on climate change with careful attention. This year, the organization aims to make people aware of the consequences of climate change.
• WMO wants people to take the right action at the right time so that they can prevent bigger climate problems.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/world-meteorological-day-wmo-to-ensure-global-early-warning-systems-coverage-in-5-years-82051