Search

Floods and droughts take a staggering toll both in human suffering and in economic costs. A new approach thus is urgently needed to manage the large and growing risks associated with extreme hydro-climatic events. This report offers that new approach. It sets out a vision of how national governments can deal with these challenges through innovative governance, offering a comprehensive path towards a safer, more prosperous future for the world’s 7.7 billion people. This report focuses primarily on the last principle - a joined-up government. This report presents a new framework for creating a more effective system of managing hydro-climatic risks, a system that has the potential to dramatically reduce the future human and economic toll from these events. This report is intended to bring awareness of this enormous challenge and the potential solutions to a broad audience, as well as offering a practical and detailed guide to help governments improve their flood and drought management systems.

Hydrometeorological investments have trended an overall rise since the mid-1990s when the World Bank’s (WB) investments in National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHSs) were structured as small-scale activities, and have gradually shifted toward developing more complete systems. This guidebook aims to provide a structured basis to approach the task of transforming and developing capacities of national meteorological and hydrological services in the WB client countries. The guidebook’s primary focus is to help the World Bank task teams and development partners working with national governments to strengthen NMHSs’ capabilities in producing and delivering services required by the governments, stakeholders, partners, and users. The guidebook will also serve to explain the process of transformation to NMHSs’ managers and staff. It also intends to help development institutions that are committed to NMHSs’ support through the Alliance for Hydromet Development launched at the Conference of the Parties (COP25) in December 2019.

The needs of societies for more accurate and reliable weather, climate, and hydrological ‘hydromet’ information are at the highest levels today. Weather events–including hurricanes, heat waves, floods, and droughts, jointly cause more economic damage and loss of life than any other disaster. Around the world, better warning systems, better meteorological and hydrological services, and customized service delivery can help prepare for and reduce the cost of weather events, minimize loss and damage, and build socio-economic resilience. Reliable hydromet services are in high demand in weather-dependent sectors like aviation, agriculture, shipping, transport, energy, and tourism. As the effects of climate change modify the patterns and intensity of natural hazards and as rapid urbanization and population growth increase vulnerability, adequate hydromet services are increasingly a very high value proposition. For over a decade, the World Bank has invested in the modernization of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). Some countries have been more successful than others with sustaining and multiplying the outcomes of these investments. We have also witnessed that many countries are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for more sophisticated services to protect lives and assets as well as to support economies. Over the same decade, advances in technology and innovation have widened the scope of products and services that can be used to improve weather data, warning systems, and hydromet information. Private-sector actors are playing an important role and along with the academic community are helping to push the frontiers of knowledge, investing in innovative solutions that deliver more reliable forecasting and more efficient and diverse services. The dynamics between the public, private, and academic sectors have been evolving, creating more opportunities than ever to join forces to deliver the socio-economic benefits of a more informed and resilient world. This report looks at the current landscape of partnerships and analyzes the experience from eight countries that have explored different approaches to partnership as they seek to strengthen the provision of hydromet services. Not surprisingly, these experiences show that collaboration across public, private, and academic actors in this field is changing rapidly, can be complex and challenging but is worth the effort. The report offers ideas about lessons learned so far as countries attempt to structure a balanced model that builds on an awareness of comparative advantages, a shared commitment to improving global public goods in the service of strengthening global resilience.

The objective of this report is to provide a review of and recommendations for improving the agriculture and food security risk financing framework in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member States. This report presents the compilation of various analyses and activities realized in the context of a World Bank Group Advisory Services program to the SADC Region during 2019 and 2020, which included: (i) a stocktaking of the agroclimatic information systems of the region; (ii) the implementation of four innovation challenges to identify the most promising solutions to advance the risk finance agenda for food security and agriculture in the region; (iii) the implementation of one of the innovative solutions to one SADC Member State (the Democratic Republic of Congo); and (iv) the development of a regional risk financing policy note for agriculture and food security in SADC. The work was conducted by a multisectoral tea

In this study, we attempt to describe a brief history of meteorological observation and data in French Indochina based on materials found in libraries belonging to the national hydro-meteorological services of Japan, Vietnam, and France, and on the websites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA and the National Library of France. In our search, we found very important publications relating to historical meteorological information in French Indochina for the period from the 1860’s to 1954. Before the establishment of the meteorological service of French Indochina, medical officers in the French Navy conducted meteorological observations. After the establishment of the meteorological service, its observation activities were strongly affected by French Indochina government policies. An image collection of historical meteorological information in French Indochina could potentially contribute to historical meteorological data recovery.

The purpose of this report is to present the results of an assessment of national weather, climate, and hydrological services in Central Asia and to present a program to improve these services. The report is based on the findings of three country assessments - the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan - and supporting regional documentation. These and other countries that form the Central Asian region share common concerns, regarding economic development and the vulnerability of their economies and people to weather, climate, and hydrological extremes. National assessments are based on evaluations of weather, climate, and hydrological hazards; key users’ needs; national hydro meteorological services’ (NMS) capacities; and potential economic benefits from improvement of hydro meteorological service delivery. The results of this global facility for disaster reduction and recovery (GFDRR) work and summary report will contribute directly to the development of the regional initiative to improve weather, climate, and hydrological service delivery in the Central Asia.

This report presents the water and climate adaptation plan (WATCAP) developed for the Sava river basin (SRB) as result of a study undertaken by the World Bank. The WATCAP is intended to help to bridge the gap between the climate change predictions for the SRB and the decision makers in current and planned water management investment projects that will be affected by changing climate trends. The purpose of the report is to: (i) assist stakeholders and decision makers in assessing and planning for the risks generated by climate change impacts on water resources; (ii) provide a basis for future plans and studies of adaptation to climate change impacts in the SRB; and (iii) stimulate cooperation and debate across the basin toward additional and more detailed studies on climate change impacts at the regional and basin scale. The SRB is projected to experience small increases in water use by the public water supply, industry, energy, and agricultural and irrigation sectors. However, it is widely expected that new hydropower plants (HPPs) will be constructed in the near future, making energy (primarily through hydropower) the most important water use in the SRB.

This Issues Paper, requested by the former Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management as a recommendation of the National Water Policy (NWP), will contribute to the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) by examining opportunities for adaptation to climate change in the water resources sector, using both structural and non-structural measures. It uses models to provide preliminary estimates of the possible impacts of climate change in 2050 and 2080 on these water resources. A number of opportunities to adapt to these impacts are discussed. Many of these adaptation opportunities constitute no-regrets actions, in that they are actions that are worth undertaking in their own right, irrespective of the severity of impacts from climate change.

The Adriatic is a semi-enclosed sea, a large bay enabling the Mediterranean to get deep into the European continent. The importance of the Adriatic Sea in maritime communications system at the European and global levels was fully recognized by the Austrian-Hungarian government, which created a system of waterways as we know it today. Specifically, during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Austria-Hungary built all major lighthouses along the eastern coast, thus establishing a network of light landmarks, making the journey to the eastern side of the Adriatic feasible even at night and in adverse meteorological conditions. The task of maritime meteorological service provided by the Marine Meteorological Center Split, an organizational unit of the Meteorological and Hydrological Service of the Republic of Croatia, is to enable and to enhance the efficiency and economy of maritime activities. In order to operate efficiently, marine meteorological services require data from the high seas. Since the lighthouses are built at the most prominent and/or farthest points of Croatian territorial waters, meteorological data observed and measured in such places are of particular importance. The paper gives an overview of Croatia's major lighthouses performing active meteorological service for the benefit of the safety of navigation.

Šiame magistro baigiamajame darbe ištirta ir įvertinta Lietuvos hidrometeorologijos tarnybos teikiamų paslaugų efektyvumas, kokybė, vertinimas bei tobulinimo galimybės, iškeltos paslaugų kokybės vertinimo problemos bei pateikti pasiūlymai šių problemų sprendimui. Pirmoje dalyje tiriamos paslaugų sampratos, paslaugų ypatumai, vieša ir meteorologijos paslauga bei vartotojų pasitenkinimo indeksas. Išanalizuoti šeši pagrindiniai paslaugų kokybės modeliai. Antroje dalyje pateikta tyrimų metodologija. Aprašytas instrumentarijus dviejų atliktų tyrimų. Pirmasis tyrimas - hidrometeorologijos tarnybos vieša vartotojų pasitenkinimo apklausa atlikta tarnybos tinklalapyje. Antrasis tyrimas - hidrometeorologijos tarnybos paslaugų kokybės vertinimas, paslaugų vartotojų anketavimo būdas. Trečiojoje dalyje aprašoma hidrometeorologijos tarnybos charakteristika, atliktų tyrimų rezultatai. Aptartos tobulinimo galimybės. Pateikiami paslaugų kokybės gerinimo būdai. This master's thesis investigates and assesses the efficiency of services, services‘ quality, assessment and improvement opportunities, raises the problems of services‘ quality and provide suggestions for solving these problems in Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service. The first part explores the concept of services, services’ features, public meteorological service and customer satisfaction index. There are analyzed six main service quality models. The second part is intended to explain the methodology. There are described two instrumentations used for analysis. The first analysis aims to investigate public users’ satisfaction with Hydrometeorological Service and was implemented in the Authority's website. The second analysis covers Hydrometeorological Service services’ quality assessment and was implemented by questioning service’ customers. The third part describes basic characteristics of Hydrometeorological Service and examines research results. There are possibilities for improvements discussed and methods how to improve the quality of services explained.

On the basis of the analysis of main problems existing in current agricultural meteorological service in China, for the purpose of exploring a solution to the “last kilometer” problem in rural meteorological service, this article designed four short message service products with the business brand name “meteorology for agricultural condition”, including “weather prediction for farming season”, “weather forecast for farming”, “weather alert”, and ”meteorological hazards of agriculture”. By taking advantage of telecom operators’ market, these products have been spread to more than 100 million rural mobile phone users and widely welcomed. They also contributed enormously to disaster prevention and peasants' income growth, and achieved good social and economic benefits.

Відомий вчений-гідролог – академік Всеукраїнської академії наук (1929), академік Всесоюзної академії сільськогосподарських наук (1935) Євген Володимирович Оппоков є засновником практичної та наукової гідрології в Україні. Авторами розкрито його шлях у науці та роль у розвитку та становленні української школи наукової гідрології у 30-х роках ХХ століття. Його життєвий шлях закінчився передчасно через необґрунтований політичний наклеп, за яким його було страчено. Famous scientist-hydrologist-academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, academician of the all-Union Academy of agricultural sciences Evgeny Oppokov is the beginner of practical and scientific hydrology in Ukraine. The authors revealed his way in science and in the development and establishment of the Ukrainian school of scientific hydrology in 30-ies of the 20th century. His life ended because of unfounded political slander, his execution was due to it. Известный ученый-гидролог – академик Всеукраинской академии наук (1929), академик Всесоюзной академии сельскохозяйственных наук (1935) Евгений Владимирович Оппоков является основателем практической и научной гидрологии в Украине. Авторами раскрыты его путь в науке и роль в развитии и становлении украинской школы научной гидрологии в 30-х годах ХХ века. Его жизненный путь закончился преждевременно – он был казнен из-за необоснованной политической клеветы.

Man-made climate change is affecting water infrastructure in all regions of the world, affecting large numbers of people in their daily life and the development of their societies. As part of the World Bank Water Anchor's analytical and advisory work on water and climate change, consultants have investigated how private sector services to infrastructure may address the challenges related to climate change while, at the same time, improving development opportunities for people. This report, which is one of the outcomes of the work, addresses the role of private providers of non-financial climate change-related services with relevance for water infrastructure. This report investigates to need for additional services with regard to climate change and analyzes the potential for the private sector in providing these services. The analysis focuses on the water sectors likely to be affected by climate change, that is, water resources management, irrigation and drainage, hydropower, coastal protection, flood protection, urban water supply, and sanitation as well as water quality. In addition, opportunities for mutual engagement of public and private agencies are analyzed and the perspectives of market development are explored. The central aim of the report is to deepen our understanding of the opportunities for engaging private providers of climate change services in climate change adaptation combined with socioeconomic development opportunities.