Latin American and Caribbean Ministerial Declaration
A High-Level Symposium in Panama on 24 October has yielded important recommendations on Early Warning Systems (EWS) and provided an article for the Declaration of the Ministries of Environment giving greater visibility to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and their services to society.
A High-Level Symposium in Panama on 24 October has yielded important recommendations on Early Warning Systems (EWS) and provided an article for the Declaration of the Ministries of Environment giving greater visibility to National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and their services to society. The “Ensuring Efficient Climate Information Systems, Disaster Risk Reduction and Multi-hazard Early Warning in Latin America and the Caribbean” Symposium was billed as a continuation of the first Regional Summit on Disaster Risk Management held earlier in the year in Uruguay. It aimed to underline the importance of the work of the region’s NMHSs and to strengthen the links between NMHSs and Ministries of Environment, National Climate Change Directorates, Emergency Information Centres and National and Regional Disaster Risk Management Organizations (NDRMOs).
The event was organized by the WMO Regional Office for the Americas, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in the framework of the XXIII Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean and the 2023 Climate Week. WMO moderated the event, which featured 21 expert panelists with diverse perspectives.
The Symposium concluded that there was a fundamental need to strengthen dialogue and interactions between national entities operating EWS. In this regard, the panelists agreed that ministerial planning with regional and sub-regional financial authorities is essential to fill capacity and infrastructure gaps effectively and sustainably. They also saw a need for increased United Nations inter-agency collaboration in the region to replicate successful approaches at the national level. In addition, they underlined that UN support was required to optimize governance, public policies and investments to ensure the effectiveness of Climate Information Systems, Disaster Risk Reduction and Multi-Hazard EWS in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Article 14 of Declaration of the XXIII Forum of Ministers, to be promulgated at the national level and promoted at the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) offered strong support to NHMSs:
“We underline the indispensable role of our National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, in providing meteorological, climatic, hydrological and oceanographic data critical for both disaster risk reduction, food security and adaptation to climate change, as well as that of National Disaster Risk Management Organizations (NDRMO) that guarantee a multi-risk approach and coordinate the contribution of different sectors to a better understanding of disaster risk to substantially reduce it. Therefore, we are committed to fostering regional networks of meteorological and hydrological services, environmental entities and disaster risk management organizations, to facilitate data exchange and foster a collaborative environment for advanced climate modelling and early warning systems against multiple risks. We will also actively promote the adoption of standardized practices and the sharing of resources, such as cutting-edge technology and expertise, to protect vulnerable populations and improve our collective resilience to climate change and the hazards that can trigger disasters.”
The full Declaration can be found here.