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GWE Forum Roundtable 4: From models to mangroves – Using climate information to design effective Nature Based Solutions

This panel discussion focused on the weather, water and climate information needed to support nature-based solutions (NBS) to reduce flood and drought risks and brought together NBS practitioners from the World Bank and elsewhere, policy advisors, meteorologists, and hydrologists to:

  • Review the challenges and opportunities of NBS to reduce vulnerability and build resilience to flood and drought risks. How are these practices be applied in development projects?
  • Assess the weather and climate data and information requirements, and how to reduce knowledge gaps, needed for NBS introductions to be successful.
  • Explore ways to create opportunities to support and enable the uptake of NBS in developing countries.

The outcomes of the roundtable included:

  • Guidance on the weather, climate and hydrological global-to-local scale data and information requirements from the global weather enterprise for NBS to support flood and drought risk reduction.
  • Guidance on the types of NBS solutions needed to reduce flood and drought risk, in a development context.
  • Guidance on policy options for developing countries to encourage NBS investments in flood and drought risk reduction.
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GWE Forum Roundtable 3: Building the New Economy – the Role of the Weather Enterprise

The GWE Forum opens its 2022 Roundtable discussions on how hydromet services address today’s societal priorities – decarbonization, sustainable growth, and strengthening resilience to natural hazards.

In this first event of 2022,  we asked a group of economists and leaders in the field of meteorology for their opinions of what the world will look like in 2030 and beyond.

Amongst the questions discussed were:

  • What will our new economies look like and what weather-related information will be needed to support them?
  • Is the global weather enterprise fit-for-purpose to produce the required information to enable the anticipated changes societies need to undergo?
  • If not, what do we need to do to ensure that weather enterprise provides the right services for all?  
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GWE Forum Roundtable 2: Development partners’ dialogue: How to enhance the lasting impact of development projects?

Many modernization projects are undertaken in low- and mid-income countries, to improve national and regional capacities to produce and deliver weather, climate, and hydrological information. Development partners marked significant success, and gained considerable knowledge over years, to enhance the public infrastructure for monitoring, prediction, and knowledge production.

In the meantime, we have witnessed rapid changes in the scene. Notably, technological advances and open data policies have significantly enlarged the role of the private sector, calling for the optimal mix of public-private collaboration that would improve the provision of public services.  Sustainability continues to be a great challenge for those projects, bearing the questions as to “How to ensure lasting impact of the development projects?”, and, “How to maximize their benefit for the whole country or region?”

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GWE Forum Roundtable 1: In Conversation with 7 Women on Gender Equality in the Global Weather Enterprise

Seven women discuss their work and life experiences in meteorology and related fields. They review the progress or lack thereof made during the past three decades in efforts to create gender balance and equality in the global weather enterprise – how far have we come? How far do we still have to go?

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