Climate change adaptation

Two men harvesting water plants from a small boat in a wetland area with dried plants stacked in conical shapes along the waterfront.
Dipayan Bose/WMO 2024 Calendar Competition Winner

Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals depends on climate action. All are intertwined. 

Today, no productive activity can be planned without considering the impact of weather and naturally occurring climate variability and human-induced climate change. 

Effective adaptation is highly localized, which requires reliable, high-resolution and timely information to support decision-making. The development and incorporation of science-based climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice on the global, regional and national scale is vital if we are to better manage the risks of climate change.

Fortunately, there have been rapid advances in science and climate services to support adaptation. Such services involve the provision and use of high-quality observations and model data from national and international databases on a suite of key climate variables, as well as maps, risk and vulnerability analyses, and assessments of climate variability and climate change. 

The data and information products are then combined with non-meteorological data and information, such as agricultural production, health trends, population distributions in high-risk areas, road and infrastructure maps for the delivery of goods, and other socioeconomic variables. 

WMO has prioritized climate services for disaster risk reduction, agriculture and food security, energy, health and water resource management.