{{Fresh water is vital for life. On average, a human being cannot survive more than three days without it. Water is essential for the production of our food, virtually all of our goods and services and for the environment.

The world now faces increasing challenges posed by water stress, floods and droughts and lack of access to clean supplies. There is an urgent need to improve forecasting, monitoring and management of water supplies and to tackle the problem of too much, too little or too polluted water.

World Meteorological Day and World Water Day 2020 therefore share the theme, Climate and Water. This focuses on managing climate and water in a more coordinated and sustainable manner because they are inextricably linked. Both lie at the heart of global goals on sustainable development, climate change and disaster risk reduction.

Hand in hand with UN Water and other key United Nations partners, WMO will work towards enhanced implementation and acceleration of Sustainable Development Goal 6, which focuses on clean water and sanitation.

Water is one of the most precious commodities of the 21st century. National Meteorological and Hydrological Services will be central to efforts to “count every drop because every drop counts.}}

https://worldmetday.wmo.int/en/conf

Keep Watch for more soon.

PKANHYE.       22.50 HRS SATURDAY 21 MARCH 2020.

The International Meteorological Organisation (IMO) was founded in 1873. It changed to World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in 1950. One year later, that is, in 1951 WMO became a specialized agency of the United Nations Organisation for meteorology (climate and weather), hydrology (water related issues) and geophysical sciences (environmental issues, etc.).

The role of the World Meteorological Organisation is to contribute in providing safety and welfare to humanity, that is:

1. protection of life and property against natural disasters- droughts, floods, cyclones, forest fires, etc.;
2. to safeguard the environment and
3. to enhance the social and economic well-being in all sectors of society in areas like food security, water resources and transport.

The WMO facilitates and promotes worldwide cooperation in exchange of rapid information and data. The Headquarters of WMO is found in Geneva, Switzerland.

There are 191 member states in the WMO which has divided the whole Blue Planet or Blue Marble into 6 regions or zones. There are 57 member states, in all, in zone 1: Mauritius (Agalega, Chagos, Rodrigues, St. Brandon and Tromelin), Comoros Island, Madagascar, Reunion, Seychelles and all the 52 countries of Africa.

Mauritius became a member of the World Meteorological Organisation on 17 July 1969. It was just one year after acceding to Independence-12 March 1968. The Mauritius Meteorological Services (MMS) of Vacoas is the governmental institution that has the responsibility to represent Mauritius at the WMO. It has therefore the obligation to carry out the mission of the WMO.

The Mauritius Meteorological Services (MMS) has, thus, the duty to make observations on and to make forecasts regarding depressions, cyclones, droughts, heat waves, forest fires, floods, rainfalls, colds, fog, temperature, humidity, wind directions and intensity, ocean waves, tides, Tsunamis, hailstones, acid rain, volcanic ash, meteorites, etc. After collecting all data and information, the MMS of Vacoas has the obligation to inform everyone, namely the authorities, the public, educational institutions, fishermen, agricultural community, entrepreneurs, tourist industries, airport and shipping departments, etc. All information and warnings should be transmitted through the radios, television, emails, mobile phones, etc. The communication should be done on real time basis; in case of Tsunami within 15 minutes of the occurrence of the disaster.

In other words, the MMS has the duty to monitor and forecast all hazards that may originate from the atmosphere, the ocean and the ground and apply them in light of the Early Warning Systems. The Early Warning Systems (EWS) are considered by WMO as ‘critical life-saving tools’.

The EWS are defined by WMO to include four components:

1. detection, monitoring and forecasting the hazards;
2. analysis of risks involved;
3. dissemination of timely and authoritative warnings and
4. activation of emergency preparedness and response plans.

These systems can only be achievable by coordination across the stakeholders at national and community levels. Countries like France, Bangladesh, Cuba, etc. have achieved success by applying effective Early Warning Systems. In simple words, Awareness, Preparedness and Mitigation are undertaken according to planned framework.

PKANHYE. 22.23 hrs MONDAY 23 MARCH 2020.