WMO recent developments to contribute to open science and education in operational hydrology

One of the main drivers of the recent WMO governing bodies reform is to enhance the contribution of WMO to the international water agenda. In this respect, the Extraordinary World Meteorological Congress held in October 2021 has adopted a new WMO Vision, Strategy and Plan of Action for Hydrology.

In the Vision and Strategy, WMO Member States declare that by 2030 a cooperative global community should be successfully addressing the growing challenges related to hydrological extremes, water availability and quality, and food security, by advancing operational hydrology through enhanced science, infrastructure, capacity-building, and related services, in the context of sustainable development and enhanced resilience.

In the Action Plan, WMO Members, National Hydrological and Meteorological Services, UN organizations, other partner international organizations and relevant public, private and academic institutions are urged to collaborate in implementing a strategic suite of activities to enhance services for operational hydrology to be supported by WMO in the period 2022–2030. Congress also endorsed the WMO Hydrological Research Strategy 2022–2030: “Operational Hydrology Research Priorities”, as an input to the global research community on the areas of priority research needed to support the provision of improved hydrological services. 

In a landmark Water Declaration, Congress set the following aspirations:

• That by 2030 early warnings for early action related to floods and droughts will be available for people everywhere on the planet to access
• That policies for water and climate action developed within the sustainable development agenda be integrated to yield maximum benefit for our people
• That these goals will be pursued through partnerships for capacity development, knowledge exchange and information sharing, formulating policies, institutional and legal/regulatory frameworks.

Finally, Congress adopted a new WMO Unified Data Policy to dramatically strengthen the world’s weather, climate and hydrological services through a systematic increase in much-needed observational data and data products from across the globe. The new policy reaffirms the commitment to the free and unrestricted exchange of data, which has been the bedrock of WMO since it was established more than 70 years ago.