On Wednesday 3 November, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will announce a new United Nations Coalition Fund to significantly improve the collection of essential weather and climate data and boost the international response to climate change.
The Systematic Observations Finance Facility (the SOFF) will plug the data gaps that undermine our understanding of past and current climate, as well as our capacity to predict and project future climate scenarios. This, in turn, weakens international efforts to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events such as floods, hurricanes and drought.
Over the next ten years, the SOFF will build capacity in 75 Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries to enable them to generate and exchange essential weather and climate data.
Weather and climate observations enabled by the SOFF are essential if the world community is to realize fully the 162 billion US dollars annually in socio-economic benefits of weather and climate prediction.
According to a recent World Bank report, the potential global disaster management benefits enabled by the SOFF are estimated at 66 billion US dollars per year and improved economic production resulting from better planning is estimated at about 96 billion US dollars annual. Weather-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, energy, transportation, construction and insurance will see the greatest benefits.
The event takes place in the Nordic Pavilion, Sector D, at COP26.
It will be livestreamed here.
