WMO Session: Guide for Integrated Urban Weather,

Environment and Climate Services (IUWECS)

How to best meet the needs of researchers and stakeholders?

Introduction to the Guide by A. Baklanov, WMO, abaklanov@wmo.int

GIUWECS team: S. Grimmond, V. Bouchet, L. Molina, A. Baklanov, P. Joe, C. Ren, V. Masson, G. Mills, J. Tan, S. Miao, H. Schluenzen, J. Fallmann, J.H. Christensen, H. Lean, A. Hovsepyan, B. Golding, R. Sokhi, J. Voogt, F. Vogel, J. Yoshitani, M. Pelling, R. Spengler, B. Heusinkveld, M. Badino, J. Ching, P. Parrish, T. Georgiadis

WMO for UN New Urban Agenda

WMO Urban Cross-cutting Focus and elaboration of Guidelines for Integrated Urban Services

We would like your feedback!

Statement of the Problem • 90% of disasters for urban areas

are of hydro-meteorological nature – increased with climate change

• 70% of GHG emissions generated by cities

• Strong feedback – Two phases should not be

considered separately • Critical need to consider the

problem in a complex manner with interactions of climate change and disaster risk reduction for urban areas

Domino effect: a single extreme event can lead to new hazards and a broad breakdown of a city’s infrastructure:

Example of Hazard Domino Effect (Typhoon)

Typhoon Farmland

Traffic Accident Basement

Flooding Electrocution Plant

Disease

Street Billboards

Green House

Street Trees Transmission Line

Storm Surge

Strong Wind Severe Convection

Heavy Rain High Waves

Casualty

Inundation Water

Logging

Overflowing

Marine Accident

Riverbanks Destroyed

Infrastructure Damage

Traffic Accident

Hazards and Risks in the Urban Environment • Poor air quality and peak pollution episodes • Extreme heat/cold and human thermal stress • Hurricanes, typhoons, extreme local winds • Wild fires, sand and dust storms • Urban floods • Sea-level rise due to climate change • Energy and water sustainability • Public health problems caused by the previous • Climate change: urban emissions of GHG

© Adrian Pearman/Caters © www.thamai.net © Tommy Hindley/ Professional Sport

MALAO@pictzz.blogspot.com

Solution: Integrated Urban Services Urban activities are a priority and specific cross-cutting element within the WMO strategy

Goal: Science-based Integrated Urban Weather, Water, Environment and Climate Services (IUWECS) • Multi-Hazard Early

Warning Systems • Integrated urban GHG

information System (IG3IS - urban)

• Climate services • Focus on impact based

forecast and risk based warnings

Focus of the Guide to IUWECS: To document and share the best available practices that will allow Members to improve the resilience of urban areas to a great variety of natural and other hazards (e.g. extreme weather, flooding, diminished air quality, transport security, urban and coastal inundation, large scale air-borne high-impact hazards such as: hurricanes, typhoons, smoke from large fires, sand and dust storms, volcanic ash, nuclear and industrial /chemical accidents /releases, etc.).

Available for comments on:

https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/GuideIUWECSPart1.pdf

IUWECS: Translating Research to Improved Urban Services

Better communications – impacts & risks

Multi-purpose: forecasts, research, planning, mitigations, service

Multi-function: High impact weather, air quality, floods, urban climate, special end user needs

Multi-scale: macro/mesoscale, urban, neighbourhood, street canyons, buildings

Multi-variable: thermal, dynamic, chemical, hydrological, biometeorological, ecological

Multi-tool/platform: radar, wind profiler, ground-based, airborne, satellite based, in situ observation, sampling;

Multi-linked: linkages between all platforms, big data solutions

Tan et al., 2015

Components of the development an Integrated Urban Weather, Environment and Climate Service (IUWECS)

WMO pilot projects and demonstration cities

United Nations 2012

Mexico City

Santiago

SAFAR: Indian cities

Jakarta

TOMACS: Tokyo

WISE: Seoul Toronto

Shanghai

Moscow

Hong Kong

SURF: Beijing

Accra

Paris

New cities and countries are welcome to join the team. Start realising Integrated Urban Service for your city!

Urban agglomerations at risk of multiple natural hazards (2025)

IG3IS: Johannesburg

London

Singapore

GURME Pilot Project part of Shanghai Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) (by SMB/CMA)

Led by Xu Tang, SMB

Mechanism: Shanghai Emergency Warning Center

National: CMA sponsored the early warning dissemination system for all natural disasters and public events in cooperation with the State Council Emergency Response Office. Shanghai Emergency Warning Center(EWC) was officially established in 2013. The local regulation requests that all the emergency warnings should be issued through the EWC platform.

Related Agencies

Joint-led by SMS and SEMC EMC: Policy Coordination SMS：Operational work

Emergency Management Committee

Cooperation

Center

Training

Center

Rescue

Center

Warning

Center

Sub-Warning Center

Water Civil Defence Earthquake Agriculture

Ocean Construction Airpot Medical Care

Food &Drug Environment Transport ……

Lessons Learned in Implementing Integrated Urban Services • Initiation of IUWECS: often

opportunistic • Essential to engage relevant

stakeholders from the beginning

• Necessary to establish regulatory and institutional frameworks & define government agency interactions and responsibilities

• Operational implementation should include cross-sector technology transfer mechanisms and service provision (warnings, advisories, risk and impact communications, capacity building, evaluation)

Product and risk communication to end-users: Indian cities SAFAR Example (G.Beig, 2017)

Hong Kong Local Experiences on IUWECS WECS and Urban Planning and Construction

Recommendations • IUWECS are needed and it is important not to wait for a disaster to act.

Examples of well-functioning IUWECS are available. • Encourage NMHSs to contribute in the promotion, development and

coordination of integrated urban services, including knowledge transfer. • Ensure that legal and institutional frameworks are in place in partner cities

that clearly define government agency interactions and responsibilities to enable creation and maintenance of integrated services.

• Engage with relevant stakeholders from the beginning including raising awareness and getting feedback.

• Further research, including multidisciplinary cross cutting studies, is needed to develop IUWECS capabilities.

• Encourage NHMS to facilitate wider accessibility of data via influencing ownership issues and technical support.

• Encourage WMO members to showcase demonstration projects on urban services.

What • Services: starting point to sustainable

urban planning, resiliency & quality of life. • State of the science: now capable of

predictions at the city block scale • Guide: key aspects and components for

the implementation of such services How • Implementing urban services need to be

multi-disciplinary and a multi-partner collaboration.

• Just do it! What we need from you! • Comment, support and endorse the guide. • Guide is found at:

https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/GuideIUWECSPart1.pdf

• Comments: wmo.cities@gmail.com by March 19 2018

Draft WMO Guide: Integrated Urban Services Need your comments

WMO for Integrated Urban Services

Thank You! Your comments and suggestions are very

important !

Draft IUWECS Guide is vailable for comments on: https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/GuideIUWECSPart1.pdf

WMO for Integrated Urban Services

Success Requires Collaboration Beyond Our Boundaries!

Draft IUWECS Guide is vailable for comments on: https://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/arep/gaw/documents/GuideIUWECSPart1.pdf

Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2017.05.004

Actions for Development

Short to long term decision-making for city to the impacts of climate change

and associated weather and environmental threats

Enhancing the capabilities of the city

for the provision of weather, water, climate

and air quality information

High-resolution monitoring of urban

climate, weather and air quality conditions

Skilled operational prediction tailored for different urban sectors

Integrated urban information system

for services Quantified and sector-specific urban

development scenarios for changing climate

End to end Multi Hazard Early Warning

System

Supporting Platform for Building a Climate Resilient Society

Linkages between exposure and vulnerability to weather and climate events influence the impacts

and probability of disasters (disaster risk)

(Source: SMS modified from IPCC 2012)

Links with Stakeholders Based on Expertise could be accomplished in a few steps:

• Identify the existing skills and capabilities of the NMHS and communicate these to a broad spectrum of urban users

• Acquire feedback from these current and potential urban end-users on their needs and begin to match these against the existing skills and capabilities

• Identify areas of mutual interest and development capability where there is potential to build a partnership.