Why India is launching a national framework for climate services

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate change

Context:

India is about to launch its maiden national-level framework towards providing climate services and information.

National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS):

Spearheaded by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
Aim: To bring a seamless working platform for users of climate information and services, and help decide and mitigate climate risks for key sectors — agriculture, energy, disaster management, health and water.
It is based upon the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS).

What will the NFCS do?

Initially, the NFCS will work in bridging functioning gaps between the various agencies who require climate services. These include the hydrological, power, renewable energy, transport, dams and irrigation, health agencies are central, state and other levels.
Along with the identified sectors of focus, India could add other relevant sectors like transport, tourism and other emerging sectors from time to time.

Why is NFCS needed?

It is needed to have a complete composite of climatological information of all the weather parameters, in order to make climate predictions.
With this IMDaims to strengthen the observational network on land and the seas,improve the data inflow and eventually use it to run weather and climate models for deriving climate predictions.

Which other countries have launched NFCS?

Switzerland, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Madagascar, Moldova, Niger, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Tanzania, Vanuatu and South Africa.

What is GFCS?

It was announced in 2009 during the third World Climate Conference held in Geneva.
It is a partnership of governments and organisations at a global level, for the production and better usage of climate information and services.
It aims to facilitate researchers and users of climate information and services to join hands in order to make informed and actionable decisions for the long-term betterment.
This framework, led by National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) in their respective nations, includes active participation of policymakers, planners, investors and vulnerable communities or sectors, as they need climate information and services in a user-friendly format, so that they can prepare for expected trends and changes in the long run.
GFCS envisages to generate high-quality data from national and international databases on temperature, rainfall, wind, soil moisture and ocean conditions and other vital weather parameters.
The five major components under GFCS are Observations and Monitoring, Research, Modelling and Prediction, Climate Services Information System, User Interface Platform and Capacity Building. At present, the priority sectors where the GFCS focuses upon are agriculture and food security, energy, health, water and disaster risk reduction.

Source: IE