World Meteorological Organization launches Media Kit for World Climate Conference-3

To enhance the observations and research on climate change around the world, hence strengthening application-oriented climate services for all sectors of society, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is convening the World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3) from 31 August to 4 September 2009 at Geneva, Switzerland. The Conference will discuss how various sectors of society are using or can use climate predictions to adapt to the changing climate.

To facilitate participation of the media, WMO has prepared a media kit for WCC-3 (http://www.wmo.int/wcc3/mediakit_en.php). In the media kit are seven fact sheets that highlight examples from key socio-economic sectors, including food and land management, water, health, disaster risk reduction, environment, tourism and transport and energy.

The fact sheets on 'Disaster Risk Reduction', 'Health' and 'Tourism and Transport' highlight the contributions of the Hong Kong Observatory on climate information and services to the local and global community. These included the provision of information on extreme events in the last century and projections of temperature and rainfall in Hong Kong in the 21st century to engineering and disaster management department and organizations, setting up an online database of climate information for the public and specialized users, studying the impact of climate on health, and developing and operating the World Weather Information Service (WWIS) to provide official weather forecasts and climate information to the international community and the media.

The WMO hopes that the media will actively participate in the WCC-3 and help spread the message to the public, so as to achieve the goal of enhancing people's safety and well-being through climate information.