Prof. Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General:
"The Open Consultative Platform – Partnership and Innovation for the Next Generation of Weather and Climate Intelligence – has been established. In order to achieve its ambition, we need to build trust and fostered joint actions to address the numerous challenges. Eighteenth World Meteorological Congress adopted the Geneva Declaration 2019: Building Community for Weather, Climate and Water Actions. The declaration outlines a clear policy direction for inclusive partnerships and the Open Consultative Platform will serve as a relevant mechanism for engagement in the WMO processes for all those who wish to contribute from all sectors."
JOINT STATEMENT OF HIGH-LEVEL ROUND TABLE
Background
On 5 and 6 June 2019, more than 40 leaders from public, private and academic sectors participated in a High-Level Round Table on “Partnership and Innovation for the Next Generation of Weather and Climate Intelligence”. The Round Table, hosted by the WMO Secretary-General and convened in parallel with the 18th World Meteorological Congress and the Meteorological Technology World Expo 2019, in Palexpo, Geneva, was conducted as an open event with more than 160 in attendance including delegates from the WMO Congress and Expo visitors. After two sessions of open and constructive exchange of views and opinions, participants overwhelmingly endorsed the following joint statement.
Joint statement
Scope and purpose
On the brink of the third decade of the 21st century, the Global Risk Landscape[1] identifies extreme weather events, failure of climate-change mitigation and adaptation, natural disasters and water crises as top societal risks defined both in terms of impacts and likelihood. A rapid advance of science and service capabilities is a paramount necessity if we are to have a successful global response to those critical challenges. To that end, a significant responsibility rests on the global meteorological, climatological and hydrological communities to embrace new ways of partnership and collaboration.
In realizing the ultimate need for a new culture of partnership among the public, private and academic sectors, articulated in the Geneva Declaration 2019 (Resolution 80 (Cg-18)): Building Community for Weather, Water and Climate Actions, adopted by the 18th World Meteorological Congress, the WMO initiative in establishing an Open Consultative Platform (OCP) to coordinate and streamline a high-level dialogue between the sectors is both relevant and timely. It will nurture collaboration and innovation for the new generation of weather and climate intelligence embracing new information and technology across the whole value chain and enabling greater benefits for society.
The aspiration of the OCP, as a vehicle for sustainable and constructive dialogue between the sectors, is to help articulate a common vision for the future of the weather enterprise in the coming decade and beyond. By fostering a spirit of mutual respect and trust, the platform activities will enable all stakeholders in the enterprise to recognize challenges and embrace opportunities, both institutional and technological, to incentivize win-win approaches and help remove any barriers where misunderstanding or mistrust could jeopardize the shared goals of our community.
Objectives
The main objective of the OCP is to foster cross-sectoral, transdisciplinary and long-term approaches in identifying and addressing collaboratively the top challenges facing the weather enterprise, particularly the protection of life and property from disasters and improvement of quality of life, in an open, constructive and participatory way.
It will aim to build concerted approaches to governance, policies and practices at international and national levels by:
- Scoping and monitoring trends and developments within and across the sectors;
- Deepening the understanding of drivers and enablers of the collaborative weather, climate and water enterprise and their impacts on systems and governance;
- Identifying potential barriers to mutually beneficial partnerships and proposing new solutions;
- Highlighting the implications of these dynamics to inform strategic initiatives that foster collaboration between the sectors;
- Showcasing successful partnerships;
- Building mutual understanding and trust.
Working methods
The OCP is envisaged as an open and volunteer-based platform. Its main activities will be formed around an agreed list of thematic areas to address the top challenges for the weather, climate and water enterprise. For each theme/challenge, relevant communities of practice will be invited to exchange views and experience and collaborate in formulating concerted position, documented in white papers. Based on such collective analytics, the OCP will generate collective calls for action and provide inputs and advice to the decision-making processes of relevant organizations and stakeholders. In doing so, WMO and other partners’ channels for outreach will be fully exploited. The OCP will seek to inform and catalyze key activities within the enterprise that drive partnership and collaboration between public, private and academic sectors, and to be informed by the outcomes of those activities.
In the context of OCP, the WMO will take on the role of convener and facilitator to enable a sustainable dialogue between the sectors at appropriate levels with due respect for the mandates of institutions and interests of stakeholders. In doing so, WMO will provide sustained support for coordination through its secretariat. Through OCP as an overarching mechanism, WMO will seek to leverage complementarities with existing and emerging initiatives and partnerships.
An annual leaders’ meeting is envisaged to review progress and guide future actions towards innovative and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Way ahead
Through the OCP, WMO and its partners will carry out activities based on the recognition of the need to address the entire value chain for the development and provision of highest standard weather, climate, water and related environmental information and services, in their multi-sector and multi-stakeholder realm.
The participants in the OCP will carry out the following activities:
- Proceed with formation of multi-sector drafting teams to work on collaborative position / white papers, for the major themes identified at the Round Table meeting;
- Identify and promote good practice in public-private cooperation models in various national and international contexts;
- Jointly develop a code of ethics to provide principles and guidance relating to ethical behaviour;
- Inform and engage communities of practice both in WMO and at other events over the coming months and years, including a WMO Global Data Conference 2020, and forthcoming regional conferences / workshops;
- Convene and participate in the annual OCP high-level event (next event – June 2020, during WMO Executive Council 72nd Session).
Completed in Geneva, Switzerland,
on 6 June 2019