GCOS Implementation Plan - WMO

Implementation Plan for the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the UNFCCC
(2010 Update)
Coordinated UN Action on Climate Change
Following the December 2007 adoption of the Bali Action Plan and a series of meetings, including the
UN General Assembly, the UN Secretary General in May 2008, through the UN Chief Executives
Board for Coordination and its High Level Committee on Programmes, initiated a process to ensure a
coherent and coordinated UN system response to the challenge of climate change. In the first
instance, this involved the identification of five focus areas:
1. Adaptation;
2. Capacity-building;
3. Finance (mitigation, adaptation);
4. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD);
and
5. Technology Transfer;
and four cross-cutting areas of UN system activity:
1. Science, assessment, monitoring and early warning;
2. Supporting global, regional and national action;
3. Public awareness; and
4. Climate-neutral UN;
with one or more of the UN system agencies and programmes assigned convening/facilitating roles
for developing a coordinated UN-wide approach for each. Most activities in the cross-cutting area of
‘science, assessment, monitoring and early warning’ (‘climate knowledge’) will, of necessity, rely
heavily on observational support from the GCOS.
World Climate Conference-3 107 and Ocean Obs’09 108
The Conference Statement and Ministerial Declaration of the August-September 2009 World Climate
Conference-3 (WCC-3) underscore the essential role of a fully implemented GCOS in underpinning
the future Global Framework for Climate Services through which all countries will be enabled to more
effectively use climate prediction and information for decision-making in order to better manage
climate related risks and opportunities in support of adaptation to climate variability and change.
Implementation of this Framework over the next few years should significantly enhance the prospects
for full implementation of this IP-10.
Another key development bearing on the updating of IP-04 was the Ocean Obs’09 Conference held in
Venice in September 2009. The planning for Ocean Obs’09 proceeded in parallel with the updating of
GCOS-92 and the conclusions from the conference are incorporated in this Plan.
The 2004-2008 Progress Report
As requested by SBSTA 23 in 2005, the GCOS Steering Committee and Secretariat compiled a
comprehensive report on progress with the implementation of IP-04 for consideration by SBSTA 30 in
June 2009. The Progress Report on the Implementation of the Global Observing System for Climate
in Support of the UNFCCC 2004-2008 109 provided both a general overview of progress with
implementation of GCOS and a specific assessment of achievements under each of the cross-cutting
and domain-based Actions set down in IP-04. The Progress Report was based, inter alia, on:
• Detailed assessments from each of the GCOS Panels and WMO, GOOS and GTOS Secretariats;
107 See http://www.wmo.int/wcc3 for more information.
108 See http://www.oceanobs09.net for more information.
109 GCOS (2009): Progress Report on the Implementation of the Global Observing System for Climate in Support of the
UNFCCC 2004-2008, GCOS-129 (WMO/TD-No. 1489; GOOS-173; GTOS-70), August 2009,
http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/gcos/Publications/gcos-129.pdf
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