Terms of Reference for WMO CAgM Expert Teams

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Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM)
 

OPAG 1: Agrometeorological Services for Agricultural Production

1.1 Implementation/Coordination Team for Agrometeorological Services

(a) To review and coordinate the activities of the OPAG, as well as additional related activities of priority to the Commission, in order to ensure their effective implementation and adoption within Member countries;
(b) To consider agrometeorological requirements for developing farm-level strategies and for making specific proposals for applications to agriculture, forestry and fisheries, based on the output of the ETs;
(c) To make recommendations on regional training needs to improve agrometeorological services to farms, forests and fisheries;
(d) To ensure accurate, reliable and systematic procedures for regionalized services to agriculture;
(e) To raise awareness of the work of the OPAG and to capture opportunities for promoting its work;
(f) To liaise with the various coordinators of the CAgM MG, as appropriate, in the implementation of the activities of the team; and
(g) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or the MG.

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1.2 Expert Team on Strengthening Operational Agrometeorological Services

(a) To document case studies on use and development of operational agrometeorological services for different regions and agro-ecological zones;
(b) To use examples of services to compile a protocol of essential components and procedures needed for successful agrometeorological services;
(c) To prepare guidelines for operational interface between NMHSs and farmers (namely for farmer’s field days, farmers field schools and roving seminars);
(d) To better utilize media capabilities in order to develop and enhance agromet service delivery;
(e) To establish more effective communication methods for interactions with farmers and obtain feedback to promote the use of operational agromet services;
(f) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or the MG.

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1.3 Expert Team on Application of Agrometeorological Products and Services for Sustainable Agricultural Development

(a) To document the use of agrometeorological products and services for policy decision makers both government and international NGOs (Red Cross, Care, World Vision);
(b) To collect case studies of agrometeorological products and services for grasslands, livestock, and natural resources management;
(c) To review and summarize agrometeorological products and services using response farming principles;
(d) To develop a list of agrometeorological products and services available to combat the influence of unfavourable weather and climate on sustainable agriculture;
(e) To promote agrometeorological courses for wider use in universities;
(f) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAGs and/or MG.

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OPAG 2: Support Systems for Agrometeorological Services

2.1 Implementation/Coordination Team on Support Systems for Agrometeorological Services

(a) To review and coordinate the activities of the OPAG, as well as additional related activities of priority to the Commission, in order to ensure their effective implementation and adoption within Member countries;
(b) To review the operational applications of current agrometeorological data, analytical tools, and information delivery systems at the national and regional levels;
(c) To make recommendations on procedures, methodologies and resources to improve the regional-based capability for operational applications;
(d) To raise awareness of the work of the OPAG and to capture opportunities for promoting its work;
(e) To liaise with the various coordinators of the CAgM MG, as appropriate, in the implementation of the activities of the team; and
(f) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or MG.

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2.2 Expert Team on Developing Agrometeorological Decision Support Systems at Different Scales

(a) To review the various support systems for agrometeorological services for decisionmaking at different levels of scale (farm-scale, catchment scale, marketing scale and policy scale);
(b) To prepare a comprehensive review on the use of weather forecasts and climate predictions including NWP products supplemented with GIS, RS information and ICT tools for agrometeorological applications;
(c) To develop a framework of support systems for different decision-making scales by diverse Levels Of Farmers;
(d) To develop guidance material on decision support systems for agrometeorological services at different scales;
(e) To make recommendations on the use of weather forecast and climate predictions including NWP products supplemented with GIS, RS information and ICT tools for agrometeorological applications;
(f) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or MG.

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2.3 Expert Team on Software Resources for Operational Applications in Agrometeorology

(a) To review the current software resources available and needed for operational applications in agrometeorology with appropriate delivery and feedback
mechanisms at farmer’s level;
(b) To promote agrometeorological operational applications and information delivery systems that are profitable to optimize knowledge about weather- climate-crop
relations;
(c) To review agrometeorological information that farmers need in order to adopt strategic and tactical planning;
(d) To develop guidance material on agrometeorological operational applications and information delivery system;
(e) To make recommendations on appropriate delivery and feedback mechanisms at farmer’s level to providers of agrometeorological information;
(f) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or MG.

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OPAG 3: Climate Change/Variability and Natural Disasters in Agriculture

3.1 Implementation/Coordination Team on Climate Change/Variability and Natural Disasters in Agriculture

(a) To review and coordinate the activities of the OPAG, as well as additional related activities of priority to the Commission, in order to ensure their effective implementation and adoption within Member countries;
(b) To summarize the status of climate change/variability studies as they impact national and regional agriculture, forestry and fisheries;
(c) To appraise and report on current capabilities in the analysis of climate change and variability specifically as they relate to and affect agriculture, forestry and fisheries at the national and regional levels;
(d) To review the results of climate change and variability scenarios at the regional level and promote appropriate agrometeorological adaptation strategies to mitigate the impacts on the productivity of agricultural, forestry and fisheries;
(e) To identify deficiencies in the operational applications of long-range predictions for agriculture, and make recommendations for improving the technology for the benefit of agriculture at the national and regional levels;
(f) To raise awareness of the work of the OPAG and to capture opportunities for promoting its work;
(g) To liaise with the various coordinators of the CAgM MG, as appropriate, in the implementation of the activities of the team; and
(h) To prepare reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAGs and/or MG.

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3.2 Expert Team on Weather and Climate Extremes and Impacts and Preparedness Strategies in Agriculture, Rangelands, Forestry, and Fisheries

(a) To determine the critical areas where agricultural production is vulnerable to extremes in different regions; and to suggest continuous monitoring strategies for early detection in vulnerable areas;
(b) To appraise and report on current capabilities in the analysis of climate risks and to summarize the different strategies of coping with climate risks in agriculture, rangelands, forestry and fisheries in collaboration with CCl, where appropriate;
(c) To evaluate and further develop methodologies for climate risk mapping for use by insurance industry; and
(d) To submit reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or the MG.

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3.3 Expert Team on the User Response to Climate Variability and Climate Change: Adaptation to Changing Climate at the Regional Level

(a) To review and assess the response of agricultural communities to climate change, in order to improve their capacity to cope with climate change;
(b) To assess the current status of communication of climate alert information to the user communities in different Regions, and recommend ways and means of improving dissemination, in collaboration with CCl, where appropriate;
(c) To summarize the status of preparedness and coping strategies as well as the impacts on sustainable agriculture and translate into user-friendly language;
(d) To review the strengths and weaknesses of existing provisions in the national climate policies related to climate extremes impacting on agriculture, and
(e) To submit reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or the MG.

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4.1 Joint Expert Team with JCOMM on Weather, Climate and Fisheries

(a) To review the current data collection by JCOMM on marine meteorology, to assess how these data meet the current needs of the sustainable management in fisheries, and, as appropriate, encourage and assist fisheries vessels to make and report relevant marine meteorological and ocean observations to the WMO system;
(b) To review the effects of climate and climate variability on seasonal to decadal time scales on oceanic fisheries;
(c) To review the current climate change impacts and evaluate the impact of future climate change on oceanic fisheries;
(d) To identify risk assessment or management evaluation tools that incorporate climate variability in order to improve the sustainable management of coastal and oceanic fisheries;
(e) To review the effects of agricultural practices on coastal fisheries;
(f) To submit reports in accordance with timetables established by the OPAG and/or MG of CAgM/JCOMM.

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