World Meteorological Organization

Decision 3.1/8 (RA VI-18)

Annual Report on the State of Climate in RA VI (Europe) – Climate Services RCCs and Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOF) matters

Regional Association VI (Europe) decides:

(1) To strengthen Regional Climate Outlook Forums (RCOF) as a sustainable platform for improving climate information services at the regional level, and to streamline RCOF processes adhering to Decision 9 (EC-72) with a contribution from the RA VI RCC network and other regional partners in RA VI including, inter alia, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S),

(2) To work towards establishing a regular process, including a robust process for peer review, for i) the publication of a WMO Statement on the Climate in RA VI building on existing material from Copernicus and the RA VI RCC network and the approach taken in the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate; and ii) agreeing, as much as possible, on key messages with Copernicus European Climate reports for consistent communications,

(3) To invite the RA VI president and the management group together with RA VI working structure with a mandate for Climate Services to liaise with Copernicus Programme managers and experts in order to explore options for production of such a statement covering all of RA VI,

(4) To request the RA VI president and the management group to negotiate further under the high-level discussions with Copernicus a Memorandum of Understanding with Copernicus on this matter, including data and code policy agreements that will promote consistency and support the production of climate reports across the Regions,

(5) To establish a close relationship with UNECE and the Regional UN System, and invite collaboration on the Statement on the Climate in RA VI, in particular regarding the climate impacts on socio-economic sectors, and adaptation and mitigation policies,

(6) To further request the WMO Secretariat, its Regional Office for Europe, to support the RA VI president and the management group in this undertaking and to provide the support to facilitate the publication and launch of Statement on the Climate in RA VI,

(7) To request the RA VI president to provide information on the proposed process and collaboration agreements for agreement by Members at RA VI-18 Part B.