18
BAMOS
Dec 2018
International engagement
Agata Imielska
NSW Centre Chair
Earlier this year I had the privilege of attending my very first
World Meteorological Organization meeting, the Commission
of Climatology in Geneva in April 2018. I have always held the
WMO in high regard, as a UN agency with a strong focus on
global collaboration. WMO, and its members, have made great
strides in improving information that National Meteorological
and Hydrological Services (NMHS) provide to their communities
through data sharing, standards and competencies developed,
and that’s just naming a small portion of the work that has been
done.
In reality, there is much I did not know about the WMO or other
organisations such as the World Climate Research Programme
(WCRP) and just how international engagement works, which
was the perfect reason to host a seminar on international
engagement with Assoc. Prof. Lisa Alexander presenting.
Lisa’s involvement in WMO and WCRP spans almost 20 years
working across disciplines with WCRP who focus on research,
such as establishing and addressing the grand research
challenges, while WMO tends to focus on applications, delivering
resilient products and services to the global community.
At this year’s Commission of Climatology meeting, Assoc.
Prof. Lisa Alexander was recognised by the WMO for the great
contribution she has made globally through her work on the
Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI).
The expert team contributed to filling data gaps across the
globe. Lisa led the production of these datasets which directly
contributed to identifying changes in global extremes as
reported in a variety of IPCC reports.
For some countries it was the very first time the country’s
National Meteorological and Hydrological Services staff could
see and analyse climate change trends in data from their own
countries—a powerful and important message. It was a real
honour to deliver Lisa’s award and hear her reflections on her
involvement in international engagement in both WMO and
WCRP and the important role it plays for not just the individual
countries, but for the global community.
Associate Professor Lisa Alexander (left) receiving her WMO award from Agata Imielska from the Bureau of Meteorology.