The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates international cooperation on meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology, and related earth sciences. It grew out of the non-governmental International Meteorological Organization (IMO), founded in 1873, and was formally established when the WMO Convention entered into force in 1950; it became a UN specialized agency in 1951. Its secretariat is in Geneva, Switzerland.
The WMO's supreme body is the World Meteorological Congress, which meets every four years and is composed of representatives of all Members. Between congresses, the Executive Council steers the organization, and a Secretary-General heads the secretariat. Membership is open both to states and to certain territories that maintain their own meteorological services, which is unusual among UN agencies.
WMO's core function is enabling the free and unrestricted exchange of weather, climate, and water data among national meteorological and hydrological services. It operates several flagship programs, including the World Weather Watch, the Global Atmosphere Watch, the World Climate Programme, and the Global Framework for Climate Services. It also co-sponsors, with UNEP, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established in 1988, and co-sponsors the Global Climate Observing System.
The WMO sets technical standards (for example, instrument calibration, observation codes, and aeronautical meteorology requirements under ICAO Annex 3), issues authoritative statements on the state of the global climate, and verifies world weather and climate extremes through its Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes.
For MUN and policy purposes, WMO is the principal scientific-technical interlocutor on atmospheric and hydrological matters and a key input source for negotiations under the UNFCCC, the Sendai Framework on disaster risk reduction, and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 13 (climate action) and SDG 6 (water).
Example
In 2023 the WMO confirmed, through its State of the Global Climate report, that the year was the warmest on record, informing COP28 deliberations in Dubai.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. It is a specialized agency of the UN, linked to the UN system through a relationship agreement, with its own membership, budget, and governing bodies.
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