RAVI-17/INF.3.1(2), p. 2

World Meteorological Organization
REGIONAL ASSOCIATION VI (EUROPE)
Seventeenth Session
Geneva, 7 to 9 February 2018 / RAVI-17/INF.3.1(2)
Submitted by:
Secretary-General
6.II.2018

IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY - DISASTER AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE THROUGH IMPACT BASED DECISION SUPPORT SERVICES

Agricultural Meteorology and Drought Activities in RA VI

Introduction

The following activities, meetings and training activities on agricultural meteorology and drought were organized, managed, or funded by WMO through regular or extra-budgetary resources including with partners. A primary emphasis over the past several years has been achieving synergies and making connections between the various WMO Commissions, programmes and international, regional, and national organizations.

WMO RA VI Working Groups meetings in relation with agricultural meteorology

A Workshop on Agrometeorology for Farmers and a Meeting of the RA VI Task Team on Agricultural Meteorology was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia from 9 to 11 November 2016. These events were co-organized by Drought Management Center of South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE), and funded by Solco W. Tromp Foundation and WMO. The RA VI Task Team meeting was organized back to back with the workshop where relevant experts from European institutions provided reports on state of the art tools in remote sensing, crop models, decision support systems in agriculture, climate change impacts assessment and weather risks in agriculture. There were also national status reports on agricultural meteorology from the 12 participating countries.

Training Activities in Agricultural Meteorology and Drought Monitoring

WMO has supported and assisted countries in organizing Roving Seminars on Weather, Climate and Farmers which facilitate direct dialogue between experts in meteorology and famers, herders and fishermen on climate issues. WMO supported the Armenian State Hydrometeorological and Monitoring Service (ARMSTATEHYDROMET) in organizing six Roving Seminars in Armenia in five provinces from July and August 2015 with nearly 250 people trained.

A Training Course on the Use of Satellite Products for Drought Monitoring and Agricultural Meteorology Applications was held in Tbilisi, Georgia in May 2016 for participants from Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. This course was co-organized with European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and supported by European Space Agency (ESA), Joint Research Center of the European Union (JRC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) and Georgia National Environmental Agency.

A Training Workshop on Satellite Data and Products for Drought Monitoring and Agrometeorology was held in Budapest, Hungary from 24 to 28 April 2017. This course was organized with EUMETSAT and FAO and supported by ESA, DMCSEE, University of Vienna, Météo-Belgique, Météo-Romania and Hungarian Meteorological Service (OMSZ). Participants came from the NMHS’s and Ministries of Agriculture of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Slovenia, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

Activities of Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) and Regional Programme for Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE)

The Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) was established by WMO and Global Water Partnership (GWP) in 2013 and has over 30 partner organizations. The IDMP provides advice and guidelines to communities, countries and regions affected by drought through the Integrated Drought Management HelpDesk. The IDMP has published the Handbook of Drought Indicators and Indices in 2016 and the National Drought Management Policy Guidelines in 2014.

Every September, the Advisory and Management Committees of the IDMP have met in at WMO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. In September 2016, a IDMP Expert Group Meeting on Action, Inaction for Drought Preparedness, Cost and Benefits was organized and the Team approved the publication on Benefits of action and costs of inaction: Drought mitigation and preparedness – a literature review.

The Regional Programme for Central and Eastern Europe (IDMP CEE) was the first regional programme of the IDMP and involves the following countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The first phase of the project was from 2013 to 2016 and second phase is from 2017 to 2019. The principal funding for IDMP CEE has come from GWP sources. There has been an excellent synergy between the IDMP Technical Support Unit in WMO, IDMP CEE, DMCSEE and the European Drought Observatory (EDO) of the Joint Research Center of the EU. The IDMP CEE has produced the following publications that are relevant to RA VI Members:

·  IDMP CEE: Compendium of Good Practices

·  Briefing Note on Agricultural Drought Monitoring and Yield Loss Prediction Method

·  Guidelines on Natural Small Water Retention Measures

·  Case Studies on Natural Small Water Retention Measures

·  Guidelines for preparation of the Drought Management Plans

·  Natural Small Water Retention Measures – Guidelines

·  Natural Small Water Retention Measures – Case Studies

·  Drought Risk Management Scheme - A Decision Support System – Technical Note

Activities of Drought Management Center of South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE)

The DMCSEE was established in 2006 with the supported of WMO and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCDD) with the mission to coordinate and facilitate the development, assessment and application of drought risk management tools and policies in South-Eastern Europe with the goal of improving drought preparedness and reducing drought impacts. The countries that participate in the DMCSEE include: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

DMCSSE is working with WMO, IDMP, IDMP CEE, EDO and other international, regional and national institutions. In order to further support the work of DMCSEE and its participating countries, several discussions over the past years are being proposed in Draft Resolution 3.1(2)/1 (RA VI-17).

A DMCSEE Ad-hoc Working Group Meeting and Workshop on Follow-up Drought Activities in South-Eastern Europe and Fourth Workshop IDMP CEE was held in Bucharest, Romania from 20 to 22 April 2015. These meetings were organized by Météo-Romania, DMCSEE and IDMP and gathered experts from 9 countries and institutions involved in the IDMP CEE project.

Relevant Regional Projects

DriDanube is a project supported by the Danube Transitional Programme that aims to increase the capacity of the Danube region to cope with drought by enhancing resilience to drought with tools and data sets, provide new drought monitoring services, unify drought risk protocol based on the Civil Protection Mechanisms and improve drought emergency response in the Danube Region. The project started in January 2017 and will end in June 2019. The total budget is 1.9 million EUR. The Slovenian Environment Agency is the lead agency of the project which is also the coordinating agency for DMCSEE. There are many institutional partners involved in the project including NMHSs, Ministries of Agriculture and universities from the following countries: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) meetings in RA VI

(a)  CAgM Management Group Meeting, Geneva, Switzerland from 25 to 27 September 2014

(b)  Meeting of the Joint JCOMM/CAgM Task Team on Weather, Climate and Fisheries,
San Sebastian, Spain on 19 September 2015

(c)  CAgM Implementation / Coordination Team, Bucharest, Romania
from 7 to 9October 2015

(d)  Meeting of CAgM Focus Area 3 on Natural Hazards and Climate Change/Variability in Agriculture, Geneva, Switzerland from 3 to 8 February 2016

(e)  Meeting of CAgM Focus Area 4 on Capacity Development, Bucharest, Romania
from 12 to 14 April 2016

(f)  2nd Meeting of CAgM Management Group (2014-2018), Geneva, Switzerland
from 17 to 20 October 2016

(g)  Meeting of CAgM Implementation Coordination Team (ICT) and Management Group, Geneva, Switzerland from 28 to 30 November 2017

Other Related Meetings

A Sort-out Drought Workshop was held in Dresden, Germany from 16 to 18 November 2016. The objective of this workshop was to present and develop best practices and climate services related to drought. The main workshop partners were: Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology (LfULG), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), European Commission (EC) and WMO.

The 4th Satellite Soil Moisture Validation and Application Workshop was held in Vienna, Austria from 19 to 20 September 2017. This meeting involved several members of the CAgM Task Team on Soil Moisture Measurements.

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