World Meteorological Organization

(a) Foster development of climate services across all climate timescales: sub-seasonal, seasonal, multi-annual, decadal, and climate change;

(b) Review regularly, in collaboration with the Climate Coordination Panel international partner organizations and the United Nations agencies, the format and content of the flagship products such as the WMO Statements on the State of the Global Climate, with a view to enhance coherence and consistency of the methodologies and baselines with the ones used in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),as well as the El Niño/La Niña Updates and Global Seasonal Climate Updates, advise on related climate datasets and indicators, and provide guidance for the provision of summaries and statistics on climate extremes and weather records at global, regional and national levels in both continental and marine environments;

(c) Provide guidance in conjunction with SG-DIP on updating data management practices, including quality criteria and specifications based on evolving - and requirements of - climate policy and services at all time scales, including for global, regional and national levels, and maintain and update the WMO catalogue of maturity assessed climate datasets;

(d) Lead, in collaboration with Members, regional associations, the Infrastructure Commission, the Research Board and other relevant entities and partner organizations the development and implementation of standardized and user-targeted approaches for the systematic generation and exchange of climate data, climate monitoring, analysis of high impact events climate prediction and objective forecast products and climate projections that are required for the operational functioning of the Climate Services Information System (CSIS) at global (GPCs), regional (RCCs) and national (NMHS) levels; Work in collaboration with relevant GPCs and Lead Centres to generate products and services including the GSCU and annual-to-decadal climate outlook;

(e) Provide technical advice on the further development, improvement, implementation and sustained operations of Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOFs)/Regional Climate Forums (RCFs), the Marine Climate Data System (Data Archive Centres (DACs), Global Data Assembly Centres (GDACs), and WMO-IOC Centre for Marine Meteorological and Oceanographic Climate Data (CMOCs) and Regional Climate Centres (RCCs), monitor the status of their performance and provide guidance for improving their processes and functions including the generation and provision of the relevant data/product exchanges with the concerned global and national entities of the CSIS, in light of ongoing and evolving user needs and requirements for climate services;

(f) Support country-level delivery of climate services under the umbrella of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) through effective user engagement through the UIP, generation of associated service delivery related methodologies, good practice guidance on national implementation of the CSIS focused on tailored products and services facilitated and co-produced through National Climate Outlook Forums (NCOFs)/National Climate Forums (NCFs) and national/regional climate projection programmes, and promote the establishment of National Frameworks for Climate Services (NFCSs) to consolidate capacities at the national level and sustain collaboration;

(g) Review and provide recommendations on methods, data platforms and software relevant to all the core functions of the CSIS, namely climate data, climate monitoring, climate prediction and climate change projection, with a special focus on the Climate Services Toolkit as a key enabling mechanism, including for the generation and use of tailored products;

(h) Provide guidance and technical advice on good practices for producing tailored climate information, communication and delivery of tailored products and services, and implementing Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), and assess existing studies for evaluating socio-economic benefits of climate information and services in cooperation with other relevant Standing Committees and Study Groups;

(i) Keep under review the competency requirements for quality management standards for climate services, including the definition and promotion of the relevant criteria for climate services provision as well as the monitoring of their implementation, and maintain the associated guidance material including the Guide to Climatological Practices and related WMO regulatory material;

(j) Develop guidance material on good practices for communicating climate information, including using modern media platforms;

(k) Provide capacity building support on climate prediction, including the use of regional climate models and ensemble climate forecasts; and on basic climate understanding for users including as part of the GFCS UIP;

(l) Develop guidance material for data rescue applications and activities, imaging, digitisation and preserving of early instrumental observations and climate data from land and ocean for assessing long-term climate variability, climate change, trends, extremes and provision of various climate services.