State Of Climate Services report 2023

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released its annual State of Climate Services report, which this year focuses on health.
  • The assessment has been published annually since 2019.
• The report, which underscores the impact of climate change on human health and well-being, incorporates contributions from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, and the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• World is warming at an unprecedented rate, posing severe threats to human health.
• The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has expressed very high confidence that health risks related to injury, disease, and mortality will surge due to more frequent and intense temperature extremes, cyclones, storms, floods, droughts, and wildfires.
• Alarmingly, over 50% of excess mortality attributed to climate change by 2050 is expected to occur in Africa.
• Just 11% of countries have the full arsenal of tools required to save lives as the impacts of climate change — including deadly weather events, infectious diseases, and respiratory illnesses like asthma — become more extreme.
• Just 23% of countries assessed by the report use climatological data to inform their surveillance of potential health risks, which means much of the world is at a disadvantage.
• Poor air quality is the fourth biggest killer by health risk factor. Despite this, only 2% of climate finance commitments made by international development funders in developing and emerging countries is explicitly aimed at tackling air pollution.
• Extreme heat causes the greatest mortality of all extreme weather, yet heat warning services are provided to health decision makers in only half of the affected countries.

ABOUT WMO

• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873 under Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
• Established in 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the UN for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.
• Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland
• WMO has 193 Members, including 187 Member States and 6 Territories (India is a member).