Met Office global partnerships

Today at #COP29, Minister for Development Anneliese Dodds announced that the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) Africa programme will receive a £30m uplift, increasing the total funding to £46.8 million. This Met Office-led flagship initiative supports climate resilience by improving access to early warnings and forecasts, helping communities better prepare for climate shocks like floods, droughts, and storms. The additional funding will enable #UKaidWISER to work closely with local, national, and regional partners to develop tailored solutions that address the unique needs of communities, particularly women and girls. This uplift also demonstrates the UK Government’s commitment to modernising development partnerships and represents a strong scientific collaboration between the Met Office and regional and national institutions in Africa. Read more in our blog post from Africa Regional Lead Fionne Marshall https://lnkd.in/eRQQZEzE #GetClimateReady #UKatCOP29

We’ve had a new paper published on the climate-related risks from a major plant pest, the fall armyworm. While the paper is focused on the risks to China’s maize crop, the invasive species is also spreading into Europe and may pose a risk to UK maize and other crops. The research was funded through our Climate Science for Service Partnership (CSSP) China project. Find out more and read the paper ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/ecseUk6J Steffi Urhausen, Debbie Hemming, CABI, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Springer Nature #ClimateChange #FoodProduction #Maize

El Niño and La Niña events underscore the urgent need for advanced weather and climate services. These services provide crucial data that enable cities to plan for and respond to extreme weather events, ultimately reducing risks and saving lives. By equipping communities with the tools to anticipate and adapt to changing conditions, we can foster more resilient and sustainable cities for the future. Watch Laura Burgin from the Weather and Climate Information Services for Asia Pacific (WISER AP). Both WISER AP and the URTF are key initiatives within the UK's broader Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) programme. #UrbanResilience #ResilientCities #SustainableCities #UrbanDevelopment #Inclusive #Livable #urban #ADBURTF #ClimateServices Met Office Laura Burgin David Corbelli Henry Thompson Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ADB Water Satoshi Ishii Kiyoshi Nakamitsu Ramon Abracosa Kathleen Anne Coballes Noelle O'Brien

Read our latest briefing on Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. The update doesn’t reveal any record-breaking figures, but it does reveal that sea ice loss remains a serious issue. The Met Office, has a long history of Polar research, and is leading a new research programme in the Arctic region. The Advancing Arctic Capabilities programme brings together international partners to develop an improved understanding of what is happening to the region’s ice, ocean & atmosphere to support global climate resilience. The programme will deliver cutting-edge insights into Arctic weather patterns and ocean currents. This knowledge will be essential for everything from safe navigation to understanding the impact of climate change on a global scale. Working closely with many partners and countries, sharing data and expertise, the Programme is an international effort to ensure the security of research activities and make the best use of all available resources. https://lnkd.in/gH7uxnF2

This week, #UKaidWISER Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has had some fascinating discussions at the MENA Dialogue Platform about opportunities and challenges of Anticipatory Action in the MENA region. For the first time, this platform has brought together humanitarian organisations to explore how response can be proactive instead of reactive. Tara Finn Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) opened the event by describing why supporting anticipatory action is a priority for FCDO and WISER MENA. Then, the team ran a participatory session identifying what actions can be triggered by a forecast for the range of hazards experienced in the region and looked at community based examples of Disaster Risk Reduction from Sudan (Darja) and Lebanon (World Vision International).

Through CSSP China, the Climate Science for Service Partnership China, we are developing strong scientific partnerships between research institutes in China and the UK. The project is part of our #WCSSP programme and focuses on developing #climate services that provide individuals and organisations with the climate information they need to overcome the challenges of extreme #weather and climate events. So far, these services have ranged from providing seasonal rainfall forecasts for the Yangtze River Basin to providing tools for urban planners to protect cities from the risks of weather events such as heatwaves or flooding.   The project is also developing new scientific capability to improve the seasonal forecasting of typhoons to support disaster risk reduction, as well as working to address global challenges such as food security.   Partners include China Meteorological Administration, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS, Arup, Institute for Environmental Analytics, Imperial College London and many other key institutes across China and the UK.   You can find out more about CSSP on our website: https://lnkd.in/eaD8CQdS   https://lnkd.in/eMenC4WN

WCSSP South Africa is represented at the Science Museum Group’s new exhibit, Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery, which showcases how the world can generate and use energy more sustainably to limit climate change. Project researchers Lizzie Kendon (Met Office) and Francois Engelbrecht (University of Witwatersrand) feature in a video screened in the Future Planet section of the gallery, describing the Resilience and Preparedness to tropical cyclones across Southern Africa (REPRESA) project. This project builds upon #WCSSP South Africa research, and will provide a step change in the understanding of compound tropical cyclone risks affecting the Southern African region under climate change, and the likelihood of unprecedented tropical cyclone impacts such as extreme flooding. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eiddrfaU

Since 2014, the #WCSSP programme has developed a global network of partnerships that harness weather and climate scientific expertise. The Met Office is a delivery partner for the programme under the Department of Science Innovation and Technology’s #ISPF programme, and collaborates with other UK institutions and partners in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa and Vietnam. Some important achievements include: As part of the WCSSP South Africa project and in collaboration with @UniversityofPlymouth, warnings for rip currents have been developed to help communities better prepare for strong hazardous currents that cause hundreds of costal drownings each year around the world. The WCSSP Southeast Asia Project is strengthening the capacity of partnering countries for issuing timely, accurate warnings of high impact weather. A suite of new visualisation tools have been developed to aid forecasters in interpreting weather data to better identify the location, likelihood and severity of high impact weather events. Prototype impact-based forecasting approaches have also been implemented which are improving the communication of weather warnings and associated hazards and impacts, resulting in better preparedness and helping protect lives and livelihoods. Discover more of our highlights:

The Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) programme has been delivering transformational change in the quality, accessibility and use of weather and climate information services to support sustainable development since 2015. Managed by the Met Office, the programme commissions novel and vital work to ensure long-term, sustainable delivery and improvement of weather and climate services to support lives and livelihoods. WISER Africa includes East, West and Southern Africa, WISER Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and WISER Asia Pacific all aim to build on the transformational change delivered to date and innovate to expand into new areas. There will be a focus on mainstreaming co-produced weather and climate information services into policy, planning and decision making to ensure improvements are made and sustained. Between 2015-2021 WISER focused primarily on East Africa through national and regional projects. It has enabled enhanced information to be accessed by over 3.3 million households and delivered more than £200 million of socio-economic benefit. Discover more about the history of the WISER programme through this brochure and explore completed projects to date here: https://lnkd.in/dN-tcw7z

The AmazonFACE programme led by the INPA - National Institute for Amazonian Research and others, addresses the overarching question: "How will climate change affect the Amazon Forest, the biodiversity it harbours, and the ecosystem services it provides to humanity?". The central feature of the programme is a field experiment of unprecedented scope that will expose an old-growth Amazon Forest to the CO2 concentration of the future in a research station in Brazil using Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) technology. Research conducted by Met Office and other partners will provide critical information on how fast CO2 is removed from the air by the Amazon Forest and the results from AmazonFACE could help inform emissions reduction, and adaptation and resilience strategies globally. Find out more about the AmazonFACE programme here: https://lnkd.in/d2_7DBRD