Policy Forum: Improving Responses to Climate Predictions

The production and use of weather and climate information in the public and private sectors have become an integral part of policy making. That information has become increasingly critical in the present economic environment. There are a host of climate related impacts on human activities. Many of these impacts are global in scope and, as a result, require international cooperation, investment, and coordination of planning, services, and response. The mechanisms that nations can apply to cope with climate impacts require a scientific capability to predict short and long term causal phenomena. Moreover, national and international policy decisions are necessary to enable nations to respond to significant variations in seasonal climate and to forecasts of such variations. In the final analysis, an international system of decision making is needed to augment the present fragmented national approaches with their widely varying levels of support and capacities to deal with seasonal climate variability and related weather.

In response to this need, the American Meteorological Society, in collaboration with Columbia University, developed a forum to provide policy recommendations to derive greater national benefit from climate information and seasonal climate predictions. The Forum was held at the National Academies Building in Washington, D.C. on April 23—24, 2003.

The two-day forum consisted of a series of in-depth discussions on key issues by weather and climate scientists, specialists in developing decision strategies, policy makers, and legislators. The discussions identified present seasonal climate observational and predictive capabilities, present response strategies, and the information needs of decision makers. The focus was on the response to El Niño related events, most notably those of 1997/98 and the events currently underway. There was also extensive interaction among panelists, participants, and prominent speakers at the reception and dinner.

In a series of panel discussions, the following topics were addressed:

• Progress of climate science in providing information to prepare for and respond to seasonal variations.
  
  
• Progress in developing regional and sub-regional strategies to respond to information on seasonal variations in climate.
  
  
• The key policy issues and potential improvements in using climate predictions to manage climate impacts on the economy and resource management.

To see all Forum papers please click here.

Back to Top

Updated:
 Headquarters: 45 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108-3693
  DC Office: 1120 G Street, NW, Suite 800 Washington DC, 20005-3826
 amsinfo@ametsoc.org Phone: 617-227-2425 Fax: 617-742-8718
© 2006 American Meteorological Society Privacy Policy and Disclaimer