Aug 28, 2009, 14:22 GMT
Geneva - The United Nations in Geneva will host a five-day climate conference starting Monday that will not be aimed at cutting emissions but focused on adapting to changes in the environment that will make life on earth very different.
The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a technical and scientific outfit, hopes to walk away from the conference with a clear plan for a global information network to supply politicians, bureaucrats and technocrats the climate data they need, when they need it.
'The problem is that much information on the climate is not used properly,' WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.
'It's time to link technology and science with decision makers,' said the weather expert.
The reality, Jarraud believes, is that the climate has already changed and will continue to do so.
No matter what happens in Copenhagen later this year, when diplomats meet to try and hammer out an over-arching climate accord on harmful emissions, adaptation - scientists now say - will still be necessary.
'Even if Copenhagen is successful on greenhouse gases, a certain warming (of the planet) will occur,' Jarraud said.
The WMO wants better exchanges of information between all corners of the globe. Having knowledge of the climate could be useful for protecting health and managing water and food needs, in addition to the obvious goal of preserving a healthy environment.
Jarraud gave the examples of malaria and cholera, two potentially fatal diseases that spread in certain climate conditions. Better weather data can help health authorities know if an outbreak might occur and where.
The information can also help reduce costs and benefit sectors of the economy, such as tourism.
'Climate change is here now and countries need tools to adapt to the changing climate,' the WMO said bluntly in its invitation to the World Climate Conference.
And governments around the world, whether skeptical or not about the meeting in Denmark, seem to agree. The conference even has funding from sources as varied as Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia, in addition to the usual donors, such as the Scandinavians and the European Union.
Over 80 ministers and heads of states are expected to show up in Geneva, in addition to numerous heads of UN agencies - including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - and senior officials from development banks.
This is to be the third World Climate Conference, the first having taken place in 1979 and the last in 1990. Those meetings eventually led to the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
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