Speech

As delivered

Canada Country Statement

(Salutations): Ministers, Excellencies, President of WMO, delegates, Secretary General Jarraud.

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I would like to thank Secretary-General Michel Jarraud and President Bedritskiy for their leadership of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) for the past eight years. 

Mr. Chairman, Canada is a committed partner of the WMO, because we believe that the continued investment of time and effort to address the priorities of this organization is for the benefit of all. 

The five priorities we will discuss during this Congress reflect a more cooperative framework, effective communication with users and leveraging and building collective capacity. These principles are particularly relevant to Canada, given our vast territory, our varied and extreme climate, and our comparatively small population base. We believe strongly that building global capacity in these priority areas will result in benefits for all nations through improved monitoring, prediction and a commitment to high quality, user-defined services for citizens.

The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and the WMO Integrated Global Observing System and Information System (WIGOS / WIS)are critical, transformative initiatives for WMO Members, our partners and the many sectors we serve. They will form the future foundation for enhancing access to vital climate and water information for the most vulnerable, improving our understanding of planet Earth, optimizing our weather forecasts and understanding of our future climate for the benefit of all citizens.

These two initiatives are also important to support observational methods, systems and networks through a more integrated Earth System approach and help strengthen WMO’s contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). 

We would highlight that our community must achieve better understanding ofthe scope, scale and implications of change in polar regions. Canada’s Northern Strategy and Canada’s International Strategy for the North illustrate the importance we accord in Canada on addressing this issue. The witnessed changes in the cryosphere bear significance for the entire planet with pronounced polar influences on world-wide climate and weather systems, including the potential for a significant rise in sea levels. We look forward to discussions during Congress on the implementation of the Global Cryosphere Watch as a contribution to monitoring and understanding the scope and scale of changes in polar regions.

WMO has focused efforts on Disaster Risk Reduction through the implementation of regional projects on drought, flooding and other extremes. Improving the prediction of such events will help protect our citizens and our infrastructure. It will help to address issues related to food security. To be successful [in DRR], we must create mechanisms by which the WMO collaborates well with other organizations such as the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER), the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, and the Food and Agriculture Organization, to name a few.

Capacity development is an integral part of all five priorities. In this regard, we believe there is no better investment than the training of a new generation of scientists and technologists and the building of institutional capacity. For example, Canada along with other partners, has worked closely with Haiti's National Meteorological Centre to provide support and expertise in helping to rebuild the Haitian Meteorological Service after the tragic earthquake on January 12, 2010. 

With respect to Civil Aviation, the aviation industry has sent clear signals to the meteorological community to improve our quality management systems. Our community is responding and Canada is taking steps to transfer our experience to other nations

In closing, Canada recognizes the leadership role and commitment to excellence that WMO provides. We will continue to contribute to a robust world-wide network for timely, accurate and reliable global data that is shared among all countries so that all citizens receive the information necessary for their well-being. We will uphold our responsibilities and work with our international partners to improve weather and climate services for all countries, developed and developing. In short, you can continue to count on Canada to do its part to support WMO and its priorities, in Canada, and in the world.

Thank You