Download Opening remarks by Robert Stefanski, Chief, Agricultural Meteorology Division, World Meteorological Organization

WMO OPENING REMARKS AT THE
REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY IN
ASEAN PLUS 3 COUNTRIES
by
Robert Stefanski
Chief, Agricultural Meteorology Division
World Meteorological Organization
(Beijing, China, 29 March 2011)
Distinguished Representatives of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,
Distinguished Representatives of FAO and ASEAN,
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of Michel Jarraud, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), I
would like to welcome all of you to this Regional Workshop on Climate Change and Food Security
in the ASEAN Plus Three Countries which is being sponsored by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, the ASEAN Secretariat, and the World Meteorological
Organization. I would like to thank the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science for hosting this
event.
Colleagues,
This workshop is taking place at a time when there is a livelihood crisis in the farming community
coupled with concern about increased climate variability and future climate change. The world
population is projected to grow from 6.5 billion today to 8.3 billion in 2030 and nearly 9.2 billion in
2050. All of that growth will be concentrated in the developing countries. Global food production will
therefore need to increase by more than 50% by 2030, and should nearly double by 2050.
There are 500 million smallholder farms in the world and several issues in the recent years are
threatening their very livelihoods. The frequency and intensity of natural disasters including floods,
droughts, tropical cyclones, wild fires etc., have been rising in the recent years. In 2008, Cyclone
Nargis and Typhoon Fengshen caused significant damage to lives and property. 2010 was
especially notable in that global surface temperatures that year reached record values at the same
level as in 1998 and 2005, consistent with the acceleration of the warming experienced over the
last 50 years. Also, the decade of 2000s (2000-2009) was warmer than 1990s and is considered
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the warmest decade on record. Climate change is very probably contributing to increasingly
frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes.
According to the IPCC 4th
Assessment Report, major impacts of climate change in the ASEAN Plus Three countries will be
the alteration of freshwater availability which may affect one billion people in Asia by the 2050s;
sea level rise which will affect more than 170,000 km2 of coastal systems and other low‐lying
areas in ASEAN; and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events which will
affect the whole region.
Added to the impacts of increasing natural disasters on agriculture, prices for fertilizer, seeds and
animal feed have sharply risen in the past few years. Small subsistence farmers in developing
countries are always particularly hard-hit by soaring input prices. During the past few years,
according to FAO, hunger has increased everywhere in the world on account of soaring food
prices.
This convergence of a changing climate and added pressures on the livelihoods of farmers has
increased food insecurity across the world.
Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase
productivity on their farms. This can only be accomplished through more efficient use of the three
natural resources, soil, crop and climate, which are important for agricultural productivity. The
agriculture and water resources sectors are probably the primary users of weather, climate and
water information. In many countries, the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services
(NMHSs), in partnership with academic and private sector service providers, provide a wide range
of information and advisory services, including: historical climate data and products; current
information on weather, climate, air quality, and river forecasts; hazard warning services;
projections and scenarios of future human-induced climate change; and scientific advice and
investigations. In order to meet the food, fodder, fibre and renewable agri-energy needs of rapidly
growing populations, information generated by the NMHSs is a vital element for ensuring the
sustainable use of natural resources.
But the challenge is that there is a lack of awareness in the farming community in developing
countries of the available and potential weather and climate services. In addition there is a lack of
capacities and specialized competencies in NMHSs of developing countries to deliver timely and
relevant services in order to better meet the needs of the farming community. This is where WMO
can play a role.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The predecessor of the WMO was the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) which was
established in 1873 and was responsible for international cooperation in meteorology. In 1950, the
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IMO became WMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, with a mandate in weather,
climate and water and a key role in the area of sustainable development.
It is widely recognized that human activities are now modifying the climate at an increasingly
alarming rate but that was not the case in 1976, when WMO issued the first authoritative statement
on the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the potential impacts on the Earth's
climate. In 1979 WMO organized the First World Climate Conference, which eventually led WMO
and the United Nations Environment Programme in 1998 to jointly establish the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which they have continued to co-sponsor to this day. In 2007,
the IPCC, which is now entering its twenty-third year, was co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
along with Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States.
Having alerted the global community about the dangers posed by anthropogenic release of
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, WMO is now supporting the needs of climate prediction for
societal benefits. In September 2009, WMO organized with partners the World Climate Conference
Three (WCC-3), which was held in Geneva. The main outcome of the Conference was the
establishment of a High-level Taskforce (HLT) to develop a Global Framework for Climate
Services. The High-level Taskforce will be releasing its final report very soon.
During a Session on Climate and Food Security at WCC-3, experts recommended that through the
GFCS there can be a contribution of climate information to agriculture and food security based on
risk evaluation and information delivery, cooperation and partnerships, adaptation strategies for
resilient agricultural systems, and climate change mitigation. One of the main goals of WMO is to
ensure that its various application programmes such as agricultural meteorology, provide a strong
interaction with the development of the GFCS.
Dear Colleagues,
This workshop, here in Beijing, is the third in a series of such recent workshops organized and/or
co-sponsored by WMO based on the theme of climate change and agriculture. The first was the
International Symposium on Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia, held in Dhaka,
Bangladesh in August 2008 and it was sponsored by WMO, FAO, the UN Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), and University of Dhaka.
The second was the
International Workshop on Adaptation to Climate Change in West African Agriculture held in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in April 2009 and was sponsored by WMO, FAO, and ICRISAT with
other organizations.
Both of these workshops recommended to start or enhance an existing
regional framework to increase the regional coordination and cooperation among the various
disciplines such as agricultural science, natural resource management, meteorology, climatology,
economics, and development policy related to climate change adaptation and mitigation in various
agricultural sectors.
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Before concluding, I would like to reiterate WMO’s appreciation to the Chinese Academy of
Agricultural Sciences for being gracious hosts of this workshop. I would also like to thank the
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the FAO and the ASEAN Secretariat for their assistance
in organizing this workshop.
I also extend a warm thanks to all of the staff of the Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences and FAO regional office for their hard work in the preparation of
this workshop.
Therefore, on behalf of the Secretary-General of WMO, I wish all of you a very fruitful and
productive workshop.
Thank you.