Región IV: América del Norte, América Central y el Caribe

La vasta extensión geográfica de la Región explica su gran diversidad: abarca desde ecosistemas árticos hasta ecuatoriales, en los que se pueden encontrar bosques tropicales, islas, desiertos, paisajes cubiertos de nieve y altas montañas. Esta diversidad geográfica conlleva una amplia gama de desafíos meteorológicos, hidrológicos y climáticos.
A collage of different landscapes.

La Región IV de la Organización Meteorológica Mundial (OMM) está formada por 27 Miembros que quedan cubiertos por el paraguas de la Oficina Regional para las Américas, y de cuyos asuntos se ocupa la Oficina de Representación para América del Norte, América Central y el Caribe.

Debido a su complejidad geográfica, esta Región es especialmente vulnerable a los fenómenos meteorológicos extremos —como ciclones tropicales, sequías, inundaciones, crecidas, mareas de tempestad en la costa o tornados— que se ven exacerbados por el cambio climático. Para hacer frente a esta situación, debe contarse con sistemas de alerta temprana de peligros múltiples y servicios hidrometeorológicos fiables.
En cuanto al panorama socioeconómico, la Región IV comprende principalmente economías en desarrollo, muchas de las cuales corresponden a pequeños estados insulares en desarrollo. Sin embargo, también hay países desarrollados, como los Estados Unidos y el Canadá, y países menos adelantados, como Haití. Esta heterogeneidad se hace patente en el índice de desarrollo humano, que en la Región oscila entre valores muy altos y valores bajos.
A fin de facilitar el intercambio de información y conocimientos especializados para preparar mejor a la Región ante los desafíos mencionados anteriormente, la Oficina Regional para las Américas de la OMM organiza actividades junto con sus asociados principales, tales como la Oficina Nacional de Administración Oceánica y Atmosférica (NOAA), la Administración Nacional de Aeronáutica y el Espacio (NASA), la Organización Meteorológica del Caribe (CMO), el Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres en América Central y República Dominicana (CEPREDENAC), el Instituto de Meteorología e Hidrología del Caribe (IMHC), el Comité Regional de Recursos Hidráulicos (CRRH), la Agencia Caribeña para el Manejo de Emergencias por Desastres (CDEMA), la Comisión Económica de las Naciones Unidas para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas para la Reducción del Riesgo de Desastres (UNDRR), el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA) y la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO), entre otros. También presta una atención especial a los factores socioeconómicos a fin de contribuir a la Agenda 2030 de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Sostenible.

Ongoing projects in the region

Proyecto

Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Services in the Caribbean - Phase 2 (CREWS Caribbean 2.0)

The Caribbean is the second-most disaster-prone region in the world and is highly exposed to natural hazards such as hurricanes and tropical storms, floods, landslides, and storm surges. These hazards pose a risk to life and economic loss. To combat this, US$ 7 million in funding for a new three-year project in CARICOM countries in the Caribbean region has been granted by the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative.  The project will be led by WMO, working closely with other CREWS implementing partners UNDRR, IFRC, and ITU.
Proyecto

Early Warning Systems for Floods (EWS-F)

With support from United States Department of State, The EWS-F targets 14 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Central America, the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Southwest Indian Ocean. The project was designed to expand WMO Members’ capabilities to better predict and manage  floods, namely, riverine floods, urban floods, and flash floods as well as drought and other related hydrometeorological hazards.  Integration with existing tools and interoperability of the systems are some of the core principles of this project. The efforts under this project are aligned with the EW4All initiative. 
Proyecto

Accelerating Action for Extreme Heat and Health

The Global Heat Health Information Network is a UN-recognized, independent, voluntary, and member-driven forum co-sponsored by WHO, WMO, and NOAA, dedicated to improving global capacity to protect populations from extreme heat risks. Established in 2018, the Network fosters collaboration among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers through open access resources, public events, and inclusive learning.  The Network’s workplan prioritizes five key themes: urban heat, occupational heat stress, maternal and child health, cascading heat-related events, and indoor heat, as well as cross-cutting activities such as heat-health warning systems, heat health action planning and impact measurement. Organized around five strategic pillars, the Network enhances partnerships and capacity, advances science, and drives action to mitigate heat-related health risks, with a strong focus on low- and middle-income countries.  
Proyecto

Support of the Hydrometeorological Unit of Haiti (UHM) for sustainable operability and the implementation of a relevant and efficient hydrometeorological warning system (CREWS Haiti)

Haiti is the only least-developed country in the Caribbean, and is further classified as a small island developing state (SIDS). Haiti scored “very high” on the 2018 INFORM Risk Index. Moreover, the World Bank’s “Natural Disaster Hotspot Study” ranked Haiti as one of the countries with the highest exposure to multiple hazards, and the SIDS with the highest vulnerability to tropical cyclones. The vulnerability of the Haitian population is caused by the exposure to hydrometeorological events including tropical storms and cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, floods, droughts as well as demographic factors such as poverty, high population density, the presence of settlements in low-lying areas and floodplains. Moreover, a lack of political stability, fiscal problems and weak public infrastructure increase the risk for the population. An essential step to achieve resilience to climatic shocks and a sustained development of the country is to secure efficient Hydro-meteorological services. This is the principal goal of this project.    The CREWS Haiti project leverages the outcomes of the  “Climate Services to Reduce Vulnerability in Haiti” project, which was funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) (2012-2019). The main achievements of this project included the construction of a zero-emission, hurricane and earthquake resistant building for the Unité Hydro Météorologique (UHM), the development and installation of a technical assistance package, providing UHM with the necessary technical equipment, and further training for weather forecasting, observation and aviation meteorology. 
Proyecto

Climate Science Information for Climate Action (CSICA)

Since October 2018, and in response to the Paris Agreement (Article 7, paragraph 7 (c)) WMO and Green Climate Fund (GCF) have partnered to provide the global community with access to new climate information, tools, and guidance to facilitate the generation and use of climate information in support of climate action decisions, recognizing the contribution and value of science-based decision-making in responding to climate change.  Some of the products developed by WMO include a methodology for Developing the Climate Science Information for Climate Action (WMO-No. 1287), data, tools and associated technical resources for enhancing the climate science basis for GCF-funded projects and activities, as well as for National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and climate policies.  The aim of providing these products is to help all countries, in particular least developed countries (LDCs), small island developing states (SIDS) and developing countries to identify and select the most effective climate actions to address climate impacts. In doing so, the guidance can contribute to country-level decision-making and the mobilization of climate finance.The Climate Science Information for Climate Action (CSICA) initiative was officially launched in 2021 at the twenty-sixth Conference of Parties (COP 26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow, Scotland. Furthermore, the GCF Board at its thirty-third Session in July 2022 adopted Decision 19 (GCF B.33/19) recognizing the results of the WMO-GCF collaboration and acknowledged the importance of scaling up the support for strengthening the capacity of all stakeholders to access, synthesize, and incorporate relevant climate science information into climate action policies, plans and investments, as well as enhancing the hydrological and meteorological systems and associated climate information services for low-carbon and climate-resilient development.Noting significant demand from countries, and high-level political support for this work, WMO is implementing the CSICA initiative through the provision of institutional coordination support, technical advisory services, capacity development and increased partnerships. 
Proyecto

Flash Flood Guidance System with Global Coverage (FFGS)

Flash floods are among the world’s deadliest natural disasters with more than 5 000 lives lost annually. Their social, economic and environmental impacts are significant. Accounting for approximately 85% of flooding cases, flash floods also have the highest mortality rate among different classes of flooding, including riverine and coastal. Flash floods differ from river floods in their short time scales and occurrence on small spatial scales, which makes flash flood forecasting a different challenge from large-river flood forecasting. In flash floods forecasting, we are concerned mostly with the forecast of occurrence, and focus on two causative events: 1) intense rainfall; and 2) rainfall on saturated soils. Flash floods occur throughout the world, and the development times vary across regions from minutes to several hours depending on the land surface, geomorphological and hydrometeorological characteristics of the region. However, for the majority of these areas, there exists no formal process or capacity for developing flash flood warnings.

Completed projects in the region

Proyecto

Swedish Contribution to EW4ALL

This Sida-funded, inter-pillar project is led by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and designed to support the rollout of the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Initiative. WMO is leading Pillar 2 activities—focused on observation, monitoring, analysis, and forecasting. The project aims to enhance the quality and accessibility of observation data, improve forecasting capabilities for priority hazards, and produce actionable, impact-based warnings, thereby strengthening national Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS). This initiative plays a vital role in establishing a robust foundation for early warning systems across participating countries.
Proyecto

Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications (ClimSA)

Climate extremes are placing growing pressure on water resources, food security, and livelihoods in many developing countries. The 79 Members of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) are among the most vulnerable, yet Member States of the OACPS have contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions.The EU-funded Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications Programme (ClimSA) was established to address these challenges by enhancing the climate services value chain across the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) regions.  ClimSA has brought together eight Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), ten National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) from focus countries, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), EUMETSAT, the African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to strengthen climate prediction, data management, and the delivery of actionable climate services.By enhancing the production, translation, and uptake of climate information, the Programme contributes directly to informed decision-making, resilience building, and sustainable development in climate-sensitive sectors. ClimSA supports these efforts through technical assistance, financial support, as well as infrastructure and capacity development.As main users of climate services and the bridge to other final users, the African Regional Economic Communities (RECs), the African Union Commission (AUC), the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO) , and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) are the focus of the programme to ensure sustainability and utilization of climate services. ClimSa Community Space 
Proyecto

Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Early Warning Services in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is highly exposed to natural hazards, in particular hydrometeorological hazards such as hurricanes and tropical storms, floods, landslides and storm surge, and has suffered in the past from numerous significant impacts. The capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) in the region is highly varied - in some countries, especially the smaller ones, the NMHS consists of only a few people with limited technical training, while larger countries or foreign territories have far higher levels of capacity, training and technology. There are some collaboration and coordination mechanisms in place in the region. The CREWS Caribbean project targets both regional- and national-level priority areas to comprehensively strengthen hydromet services and Early Warning Systems (EWS) across the region. Project activities primarily focus on the 15 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries, though the strategy considers all stakeholder groups engaged in EWS and risk management. The project will be led by WMO, working closely with CREWS implementing partner UNDRR.
Proyecto

Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydro-Meteorological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South East Asia

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has allocated CAD $10 million to the project Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydro-Meterological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South East Asia, representing its institutional support to the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative. An additional CAD 3.3 million has been provided from the CREWS Multi-Donor Trust Fund. Running until March 2021, the multi-country project will strengthen weather-, climate-, and water-related impact-based decision support services, protecting lives and property in three regions: South East Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. 
Proyecto

Haiti Weather Systems Programme: Climate Services to Reduce Vulnerability

Assisting in the re-establishment and modernization of hydro-meteorological services in Haiti, while reducing its vulnerability to hazardous weather, climate and water events and climate change. With support from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Haiti Weather Systems Programme: Climate Services to Reduce Vulnerability project assists in the re-establishment and modernization of hydro-meteorological services in the country, while reducing its vulnerability to hazardous weather, climate and water events and climate change. The project helps the national meteorological and hydrological service, Unité Hydrologique et Météorologique (UHM), in meeting the information requirements and needs of the Haitian users for real-time applications, and addressing the disaster risk reduction, civil aviation, agriculture and maritime sectors.

Oficinas de la OMM en la Región

Oficina de Representación de la OMM para América del Norte, América Central y el Caribe

Oficina de Representación de la OMM para América del Norte, América Central y el Caribe (NCAC)

Instituto Meteorológico Nacional

3er piso, frente a Admisiones del Hospital Calderón Guardia, 

Avenida 9, Calle 17, Barrio Aranjuez, 

P.O Box 73350-1000

San José, Costa Rica