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Statement by Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and Executive Director, UN Environment Programme
Improving weather predictions is going to become ever more important in a climate constrained world if
society is to assist vulnerable communities to adapt and to climate-proof their economies.
Their quality will, for example, determine the usefulness of smart micro-insurance mechanisms that pay out
to farmers on continents such as Africa before they are down to their last stick of maize and facing hunger.
Improved forecasts can also reduce the impact of extreme weather events on lives and livelihoods by
improving warnings and disaster planning.
Historical weather patterns are unlikely to be guides to future ones. Governments planning infrastructure
projects such as dams or roads need to know whether they are likely to be filled or washed away in a
climate-altered world, in advance of a multi-million dollar investment.
Developers of wind farms to big agricultural schemes need to know that future wind speeds will prevail in
a chosen location and that certain crops can still flourish under a climate-altered world.
Thus an improved predictive capacity, that builds and more finely focuses the existing global and regional
predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is urgently needed – particularly at the
national level.
Climate Sense
, published to coincide with World Climate Conference-3, syntheses some of the best
scientific knowledge in this key field, in order to catalyse an international response to these current and
future challenges.
Its publication comes some three months before the crucial UN climate convention meeting in
Copenhagen where investment in improved weather, climate and water service management, and
forecasting needs to be part of a transformative deal.
Achim Steiner
UN Under-Secretary General and
Executive Director, UN Environment Programme