International conference on development of climate services as decision support tools

The fifth international conference on climate services has just been summarized. The conference highlighted several important questions in the developing area around climate services, i.e. decision support from climate information useful for stakeholders in society.

Climate services have grown significantly across the world over recent years. There are national as well as international initiatives, where the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) supports the effort to bring climate services into society.

Yet the needs for climate services to support governments, businesses, and the general public are far from being met. While the area is in an extensive growth phase, there is a great need of cooperation and contact between the organisations working with climate services. The cooperation can ease the process creating readily accessible services and efficient development processes. To address these gaps, the 5th International Conference on climate Services (ICCS5) focuses on capacity building and forging connections.

International meetings at climate services' conference
William Gutowski, CORDEX, Iréne Lake, Director International Project Office for CORDEX at SMHI, Ana Elisa Bucher, World Bank and Grigory Nikulin, researcher at SMHI at the Fifth International Conference on Climate Services. Enlarge Image

SMHI contribution

Irene Lake and Grigory Nikulin from SMHI were attending the 5th ICCS, both as representatives for SMHI and CORDEX. They are presenting and sharing the SMHI and CORDEX experience in building national Swedish climate services based on regional climate modelling performed at SMHI.

“Attending the conference is an excellent way to explore how SMHI and CORDEX can contribute to climate services and cooperate with a wide range of actors at the climate services arena. In addition to this, we learn and bring back insight into the progress and challenges of the more and more requested services,” says Iréne Lake and Grigory Nikulin.

Grigory Nikulin and Iréne Lake at ICCS5
SMHI representatives Grigory Nikulin and Iréne Lake demonstrated the SMHI and CORDEX experience in developing climate services at the Fifth International Conference on Climate Services. Enlarge Image