World Bank Group PerspectiveWorkshop on the Vision for WIGOS in 2040

Daniel KullSenior Disaster Risk Management Specialist

Photo : U.S. Geological Survey

WHY IS THE WORLD BANK GROUP INTERESTED?• “Twin goals” – end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity• Source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries• Hydromet services contribute to sustainable development and

deliver broad socio-economic benefits

OUR CLIENTS (1): ANGOLA OBS NETWORK

Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan

Turkmenistan

% reduction in hydromet observation networks between 1985-2008

54%

42%

38%

OUR CLIENTS (2): CENTRAL ASIA OBS NETWORKS

Senegal hydro

Senegal meteo Madagascar meteo

Madagascar hydro

Cameroon hydro

Tanzania hydro

OUR CLIENTS (3): OBS NETWORK DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Fragmentation

Operation and Maintenance

Technically complex

INVESTMENT CHALLENGES

• Identify, enable and support investment in hydromet services (NMHSs)

• Pursue integrated approach

• Facilitate more effective partnerships with WMO, IFIs, leading NMHSs and donor community

• Jointly with WMO provide better access to global products, best practices and expertise

• Ensure alignment with Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) and other global initiatives

• Provide access to funds for operational guidance and support through “twinning arrangements” with leading NMHSs and WMO

• Secure government commitment to increase NMHSs sustainability

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR INVESTMENT

HYDROMET INVESTMENT APPROACH

Modernization investment must be substantial to achieve transformation, across three complementary areas:

Institutional strengthening, capacity building and implementation support

Modernization of observation infrastructure and forecasting, including leveraging global and regional opportunities

Enhancement of the service delivery system

1

2

3

SELECTED PROJECT OVERVIEW

Africa Regional Framework Program to Improve Hydromet Services

Sustainable operations and financing requires:

SOCIO-ECONOMICS DOES MATTER

• Clear demonstration of the importance of observational and data processing infrastructure

• Rigorous and widely understood demonstration of the socio-economic benefits, both public and private

• Systematic basis for prioritizing the use of available funding for infrastructure and service development and improvement

• Economic evidence for additional investment in climate services infrastructure necessary to support national commitments

• Invest in capacity, from management to technical• Ensure long-term operations and maintenance (O&M) commitment• Strong user interface leads to better and more sustainable services• User capacity as important as provider capacity• Prioritize public services – open data approach best• Consider sensitivities, challenges and opportunities of public-

private partnership• Approach fee-based services with great caution• Leverage international and regional systems• Leverage and coordinate international and domestic partners• Need strong and innovative leadership

LESSONS LEARNED

Ensure appropriate technical support:

• Everyone talks about the weather, floods and disasters, this does not mean they are experts

• Partnership must prioritize client/public needs, especially when working with private companies

• Operational verses “soft” expertise

• Innovation verses reliability, scale and sustainability

• Procurement – getting the right stuff to do the right thing for the right people at the right cost

TECHNICAL LESSONS LEARNED

Photos: Canadian Environmental Assistance

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION INITIATIVE - GOALS• Clearly reflect what is actually required by the user, including vital information

about all specific objectives, requirements, needs and constraints of the project (including life cycle management);

• Provide a comprehensive and coherent synoptic weather station system specification that can be fully understood by all potential users and suppliers;

• Express user required outcomes in-line with WMO requirements and recommendations instead of using blended and overly detailed specifications stemming from various commercial products, in order to ensure the consistency and the final performance of the solution;

• Include detailed technical specifications only if required, in order to avoid unnecessary and/or conflicting constraints on vendor’s solutions, so as to ensure reduced complexity, better reliability and lower costs;

• Make tender specifications easy to understand to all overseeing stakeholders, in order to achieve an effective and efficient purchasing process;

• Provide the possibility to tenderers to enter into tender procedures with correct and good quality requirement specifications that are suitable for various types of procurement procedures.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION INITIATIVE - STATUS

Current focus - components of a synoptic meteorological network:• Ambient or air temperature• (Minimum) grass temperature• Soil temperature• Dew point temperature• Relative humidity• Barometric pressure• Precipitation• Surface wind• Solar radiation• AWS, datalogger• Meteorological Information Processing System (MIPS)

• Guidance documentation and web-tool being produced• Testing to start before end 2016

Photo: Sim Li under Creative Commons License

DANIEL KULLSenior Disaster Risk Management Specialist

Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA)and

Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)World Bank Group

Email: dkull@worldbankgroup.orgTelephone: +41 22 748 1015