National Meteorological Service discusses improving weather and climate services

Black Immigrant Daily News

How can weather and climate data be used to improve services across the country? That is the question that was posed by the MET Office during this week’s high-level discussions.

by Khaila Gentle

BELIZE CITY, Tues. Aug. 23, 2022

The National Meteorological Service of Belize hosted a forum this week during which there were high-level discussions on improving the national framework for weather and climate services. That framework, said the CEO of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change & Disaster Risk Management, Dr. Kenrick Williams, will allow for better use of meteorological data and will broaden the scale of services provided by the Met Office.

According to Deputy Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon, the National Meteorological Service had three main objectives during the meeting: presenting to stakeholders the services provided by the Met Office, presenting the products the MET Office provides and how those products can be scaled up, and evaluating how their services and products can be integrated into projects in which stakeholders are involved.

“The mechanism or the national framework of climate services is basically a mechanism to collaborate between the National Met Services and the stakeholders that use climate information and weather information,” Gordon said.

The portfolio of the Ministry of Sustainable Development is coupled with two other key portfolios: Disaster Risk & Climate Change, and according to the CEO in that Ministry, Dr. Kenrick Williams, the Ministry is looking at how those portfolios can continue to integrate data from the Met Service to address issues of vulnerability across the country.

One of the main questions asked during the forum was how can long-series data be utilized to inform decision-making, including when it comes to addressing natural disasters such as the widespread flooding caused by last week’s tropical wave.

“We currently use the data at the level of the productive sector—so the farmers, and those in energy, and transport and others use that short-term forecasting to inform, for example, farming and the impact on pests and diseases. We want to see how we can scale up a national framework that informs a more long-term adaptive management for Belize and really addresses that long-term mitigation in terms of the impact of climate change,” Dr. Williams said.

Meteorological data, said the CEO, can do much more than inform farming practices. The Ministry is looking at how it can be applied in areas such as health, project management, infrastructure development, and even education.

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