Our region is exposed to extreme weather phenomena and unprecedented climatic fluctuations

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The CEO of the National Center of Meteorology and Chairman of the Arab Standing Committee for Meteorology, Dr. Ayman bin Salem Ghulam, chaired the meeting of the thirty-eighth session of the committee today (Tuesday).

In his opening speech, he said that many regions of the world, including our Arab region, are exposed to harsh and unusual weather phenomena and unprecedented climate fluctuations that affect all sectors, pointing out that meteorological facilities in the Arab countries are facing great challenges to improve their meteorological and climatic services in order to ensure readiness to face these phenomena and fluctuations through capacity building, localization of technologies, and the exchange of experiences and information.

He stressed that the Arab Permanent Committee for Meteorology is following up with great seriousness and interest to enhance the role of climate centers in the Arab countries and the necessary coordination with the relevant Arab and international organizations and research institutions at the national and regional levels to activate weather and climate information management programs and conduct the necessary research to improve long-term forecasts, praising the role of the Committee in providing a documented scientific opinion and support for the Arab negotiating position on the issues on the climate change negotiation table, in order to preserve Arab interests.

The CEO of the Center directed the Chairman of the Arab Permanent Committee of Meteorology to highlight the phenomenon of drought and land degradation, pointing to the importance of research and attention to it, mixing thanks to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (COP 16) in Riyadh from 2 to 13 December 2024.

In his opening speech, Dr. Ayman Ghulam indicated that the Arab Permanent Committee for Meteorology and its technical tasks and programs covering all meteorological activities and their applications, is an important building block in many development projects and various humanitarian and environmental activities in our Arab countries, and is indispensable to advance the means of progress and development. This committee shall be in charge of its consideration and study in order to reach appropriate solutions through draft resolutions submitted to the Council of Arab Ministers concerned with meteorological and climate affairs.

He added: "We are invited today to consider the follow-up of the activities of our committee and its subcommittees, as our agenda includes a number of important topics and issues, and to consider how to benefit from the results of the work of the technical committees of the World Organization and their embodiment at the level of the Arab meteorological facilities, and among the issues that deserve to be continued on a regular basis, is the Arab Meteorological Strategy as the best tool for the development of the joint Arab in this vital field, taking into account the directions of the World Meteorological Organization, especially with regard to the unified policy for the exchange of Data and the involvement of the private sector to advance meteorological and climate services, taking into account the development of early warning to deal with the unprecedented extreme weather conditions that our Arab region is exposed to, such as hurricanes, sand and dust storms, floods and other natural disasters, which is in line with the Early Warning for All initiative.

The CEO of the National Center of Meteorology and Chairman of the Arab Permanent Committee for Meteorology said that everyone agrees that the meteorological services provided to all sectors, in all countries of the world, are expensive in order to prepare and provide them at the required level, and it is no secret that the important and vital role of these services and their direct impact on the protection of lives and property and their overall contribution to the development plans in the Arab countries is no secret tourism and other services that support social and economic development plans, in addition to all of this is the issuance of warnings