Cha p t e r 6
Guidance on Modernizing NMHSs
In This Chapter Modernizing National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) cannot be piecemeal. The process should be transformative, ensuring that NMHSs can deliver the services that their stakeholders expect. Partial modernization of observation networks tends to have little effect if the NMHSs cannot produce better forecasts and deliver more accurate warnings. Improvement of services and modernization of infrastructure come with a price. Ongoing operating and maintenance (O&M) costs of new networks and communication systems—along with the need to attract and retain more qualified personnel to run new networks— add to the costs of doing business for NMHSs, so these factors should be taken into account in the planning stage. The World Bank is scaling up its support to NMHSs’ modernization efforts and consolidating the experiences of emerging good practices.
Introduction For developing and least developed countries, there is no definitive approach to modernizing NMHSs. But over the past decade, the World Bank has gained considerable experience in trying to do so. One of the difficulties is that providing weather and climate services is a complex process that depends on advanced technologies, modern communication systems, and highly skilled employees—all of which are in short supply in many countries. Other difficulties involve inadequate incentives in many countries for public services, along with the reality that the institutions themselves have limited political visibility and often lack modernization champions. This chapter describes the practical experiences of the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) Hydromet team and makes some recommendations that can guide World Bank teams and other practitioners through this complex process. It also draws on the combined experience of major modernization efforts that have been successfully
Weather and Climate Resilience • http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0026-9
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