World Meteorological Congress 2021:
The World Meteorological Congress 2021 has endorsed a Water Declaration, including the Water and Climate Coalition.
- It has also approved a new vision and strategy for hydrology and an associated plan of action.
World Meteorological Congress:
- The World Meteorological Congress is the supreme body of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology, operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. India is a member. It produces annually the State of the Global Climate Report.
- Only 40% of countries globally have operational early flood and drought warning systems.
- Some 60% of WMO member countries lack hydrological monitoring capabilities. Globally, more than three billion people have no quality management system for their water-related data in place.
- It means close to half of the world’s population is at risk due to a lack of information on the state of their water resources including rivers, lakes, groundwater, according to the most recent United Nation (UN) estimates.
- Some 107 countries are not on track to have sustainably managed water resources.
- By 2030 early warnings for early action related to floods and droughts will be available for people everywhere on the planet to access.
- Policies for water and climate action developed within the sustainable development agenda will be integrated to yield maximum benefit for people.
- Members will pursue these goals through partnerships for capacity development, knowledge exchange and information sharing, etc.
- The coalition is made for promoting sharing and access to integrated hydrological, cryosphere, meteorological and climate information.
- It aims to boost resilient water adaptation to climate change as well as demographic and socio-economic development for the future.
- It is also aimed at accelerating the progress of water-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially SDG6 (water and sanitation for all).
