World Meteorological OrganizationPARTNER ADVISORY COMMITTEENinth SessionRome, Italy, 22 to 23 October 2018

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3Submitted by:

Secretariat11.X.2018DRAFT 1

AGENDA ITEM 3: REVIEW OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LAST MEETING OF PAC INCLUDING FOCUS ACTIVITIES FOR 2018

AGENDA ITEM 3.3: WHITE PAPER CLARIFYING THE CONCEPT OF USER INTERFACE PLATFORM (UIP)

SUMMARY

DECISIONS/ACTIONS REQUIRED:

Review the draft and provide guidance for the finalization of the document.

CONTENT OF DOCUMENT:

The Table of Contents is available only electronically as a Document Map*.

* On a PC, in MS Word 2010 go to “View” and tick the “Navigation Pane” checkbox in the “Show” section. In MS Word 2007 or 2003, go to “View” > “Document Map”. On a Mac, go to “View” > “Navigation Pane” and select “Document Map” in the drop-down list on the left.

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 2

WHITE PAPER CLARIFYING THE CONCEPT OF USER INTERFACE PLATFORM (UIP)

BACKGROUND

3.3.1 The GFCS mid-term review points out that ambiguous language was used for the milestones related to the User Interface Platform (UIP). In response to the GFCS mid-term review recommendations, the IBCS decided to create a Working Group (WG), to be led by PAC, to brainstorm and clarify the concept of User Interface Platform (UIP). More specifically, the PAC-8 Session in April 2018 requested this WG “develops a small document (5 pager) to clarify and articulate the User Interface Platform, propose functions and connections across GFCS including reconsidering the name of the UIP and explores collaborative processes and efforts to address user interface platform-related issues by the Expert Team on the User Interface Platform of CCl”.

3.3.2 A PAC WG on the UIP composed of Douglas Cripe (Group on Earth Observations) and Jean-Baptiste Migraine (WMO) was established to initiate the work with a view to get contributions from a larger PAC constituency. The objectives of the WG in line with recommendations of the PAC 7th Session and the PAC 8th Session as a follow-up to the Mid-Term Review of the GFCS, were to articulate more clearly the purpose and mechanisms of the UIP, through

reconsidering the name for the UIP, reconsidering the definition of UIPs, proposing a classification for the different types of UIPs, documenting UIP practices within different categories, providing guidance on the skills and measures that lead to effective UIP activities, coordinating with non-GFCS UIP-related activities (CCl, GEO, PWS, etc.).

RECONSIDERING THE NAME OF THE UIP

3.3.3 With due consideration for the definitions below, the WG recommends to keep the UIP name as such; and to focus, in line with recommendations of the PAC 7th Session, on (i) developing awareness and understanding of the roles and definitions in the GFCS context; (ii) clarifying the contributions of the UIP to the entire Climate Services Information System (CIS) value chain and articulate concretely how it binds them together; and (iii) providing guidance on the skills and measures that lead to effective UIP activities.

In the context of GFCS, the definitions below apply:

Climate Services: providing climate information in a way that assists decision making by individuals and organizations. A service requires appropriate engagement along with an effective access mechanism and must respond to user needs. It can include data, products and services provided by, through or in collaboration with meteorological, hydrological or other climate services;

User: person or subject that uses or benefits from climate services, either as consumer, a client or an direct or implied licensee;

Interface: interconnection or contact between entities (users, producers, sectors) / tool enabling user interaction with data, products and services; and

Platform: environment for running software or systems / large forum of services’ users and producers (such as the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction).

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 3

3.3.4 The WG notes that UIPs are available for different geographic and time scales, provide different types of services, in different formats, through different media and for a large range of sectors and should not be limited to a single example.

PROPOSED REVISED DEFINITION FOR THE UIP

3.3.5 The WG proposes to clarify the functions of the UIP in order to propose an updated definition: from the current: “a managed methodology, or a collection of methods, means, approaches, and processes of systematic and mutually beneficial collaboration [...] aiming 4 outcomes: (i) Feedback, (ii) Dialogue, (iii) Outreach, and (iv) Monitoring and Evaluation” (https://www.wmo.int/gfcs/UIP).

A new definition would be discussed at PAC-9 Session. The definition will need to reflect some key dimensions for all UIPs including:

be based upon feedback and dialogue; contribute to capacity development; result in enhanced benefits and use of climate services; various (i) geographic scales, (ii) time scales, (iii) types of services provided;

(iv) format / media / technologies, (v) sectors and (vi) users of UIPs.

PROPOSED CLASSIFICATION FOR UIPS (AND EXAMPLES)

3.3.6 Most UIPs would correspond to one or more categories among those in the below proposed breakdown:

Geographic scale

➔ Global

➔ Regional / transboundary Regional climate outlook forumsRA I Dissemination Expert Group (RAIDEG)

➔ National Multidisciplinary working groups for climate and health, agrometeorology and food security

➔ Sub-national Interfaces of local flood warning systems, radio agroclimatic bulletins

Time scale and lead time

➔ Yearly or longer-term User feedback forums

➔ Seasonal Regional climate outlook forums

➔ Sub-seasonal (10-day to 1 month)

Multidisciplinary working groups for climate and health, agrometeorology and food security

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 4

➔ Medium-term (36h to 10-day)

➔ Weather (about 24h) Joint decision of forecasters and civil protection authorities in emergency response coordination centresWebsites and applications providing forecast products and services

➔ Rapid (less than 24h) Joint decision of forecasters and civil protection authorities in emergency response coordination centresRapid warnings of upcoming events (tornado, flash flooding, severe precipitation or storms, etc.)

Service provided

3.3.7 The UIP could enable the provision of services based on the following: structuring access to climate services; running complex analysis involving climate and non-climate products; transmitting services and alerts to users; collecting feedback and user requirements though a rolling review process; monitoring and evaluating user satisfaction and relevance of climate services

Format / technology / media

3.3.8 The UIP could take different shapes and formats such as :➔ interactive group activities (forums, workshops and seminars)➔ focused relationships (joint trainings)➔ websites and online tools (including API / mobile applications)➔ automatic email / call / fax / SMS➔ interaction through media (TV, radio, newspaper)

Sector

3.3.9 UIP could be established for various sectors depending on the needs of diverse uses. They can include:

➔ Agriculture➔ Water➔ Health➔ Disaster risk reduction➔ Energy➔ Transport and infrastructure➔ Ecosystems➔ Other

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 5

Users

3.3.10 There is a multitude of users who could engage in UIP. The broad groups include -the list is not exhaustive:

➔ individuals➔ authorities➔ research entities➔ private entities

PROPOSAL FOR A STANDARDIZED DOCUMENTATION OF GOOD PRACTICES

3.3.11 The WG identified the need to document some examples of good practices (in about 10 pages each with illustrations and links) and proposed the following outline for documentation:

Type of UIP (multiple choices) Geographic classification and location Time scale and lead time Service provided Format / technology / media Sector Users

Institutional partnerships and collaboration agreements in place Replicability of the approach in other countries Key lessons learned and recommendations

3.3.12 The WG invites PAC to recommend case studies for documentation.

EXAMPLES OF RECOMMENDED GOOD PRACTICES FOR DOCUMENTATION

Burkina Faso Multidisciplinary Working Group

The Multidisciplinary WG (GTP in French) of Burkina Faso, composed of Government institutions, provides a summary bulletin of the agricultural season that includes written summaries on the rainfall, water supplies, state and stage of the crop, pastures and livestock, phytosanitary. It also provides maps and graphs of rainfall and graphs on reservoir levels.

Colombia Local Technical Agro-climatic Committees

Local Technical Agroclimatic Committees (LTACs) are an innovative initiative with the goal to integrate stakeholders from the agricultural sector at the local level to inform smallholder farmers, about the expected changes in the climate of their region, about how they can affect their crops and what they can do to reduce negative impacts. The process was documented in 2016 by CGIAR.

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 6

Niger Climate-Health Group

Since Dec. 2017, Niger produces a Bulletin drawing from data collected from Niger’s Direction de la surveillance et de la riposte aux épidémies (DSRE), Centre for Medical and Health Research (CERMES) and Direction de la Météorologie Nationale (DMN). The first issue focused on meningitis, closely correlated with humidity, dust and wind.

Niger Disaster Risk Management Portal

In Niger, a live portal designed for the national hydrological, civil protection, humanitarian and food security services provides access to a range of (i) reference static layers including exposure and flood inundation maps at different return period, and (ii) dynamic layers such rainfall estimates accumulated on seamless timespans (15-min to 60 days) at the scale of pixels or watershed average to anticipate flooding risks. More information from http://padre.site.

Global Atlas for Renewable EnergyDeveloped by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) since 2012

The Global Atlas for Renewable Energy is a web platform that allows its users to find maps of renewable energy resources across the world. The initiative, coordinated by IRENA is aimed at closing the gap between countries that have access to the necessary data and expertise to evaluate the potential for renewable energy deployment in their countries and those that lack these elements.

MeteoAlarm

The website integrates all important severe weather information originating from the official National Public Weather Services across a large number of European countries. This information is presented consistently to ensure coherent interpretation as widely as possible throughout Europe. MeteoAlarm-partners are working on the technical migration to the CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) format, expected in 2018.

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

ECMWF interacts with its users through surveys, training courses, and collects feedback from Member and Co-operating States about the use and accuracy of the forecasts, documented in yearly national reports. In addition, a user survey conducted in the summer of 2017 is helping ECMWF to improve its services by increasing data volume limits and working on a new pricing tool.

Copernicus Climate Change Service

In addition to its Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) which provides access to the vast majority of data and information, available and accessible to any citizen and any organisation around the world on a free, full and open access basis, Copernicus interacts directly with its users through trainings (example: C3S User Learning Services Train the trainer) and monitors the socio-economic benefits of the Programme through Factsheets.

European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)

In addition to providing access to a large range of products and services through its web services and EUMETCAST, EUMETSAT organizes consultations to collect feedback from a wide range of users. In Africa, these consultations are organized with contributions from the WMO Regional Association I (see RAIDEG), which performs a regular review of the EUMETCast-Africa Dissemination Baseline compared with the

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 7

needs expressed by RA I users, and formulates recommendations to EUMETSAT.

Consortium on Regional Climatology and Adaptation to Climate Change (Ouranos)

Ouranos was setup as an innovation cluster and consultation forum enabling Quebec society to better adapt to climate change. The non-profit organization, with close interaction with the NMS (Environment Canada), brings together a network of approximately 450 researchers, experts, practitioners and policy-makers from a variety of disciplines, to respond to specific user needs in Quebec (Canada) and beyond.

United Kingdom National Climate Forum

The UK Met Office promotes science outputs to wider audiences through co-development of tailored climate services. The climate programme includes technical infrastructure, scientific research, translation and delivery of science, and tailored climate services for the UK Government to inform policy. A dedicated Knowledge Integration team communicates relevant and useful scientific knowledge and developments.

French High-Level Council on Meteorology (Conseil Supérieur de la Météorologie CSM)

The CSM is a forum for consultation between Météo-France and its users. It is chaired by the minister responsible for meteorology. It is responsible for (i) evaluating the services provided by Météo-France to its users; (ii) formulating wishes or recommendations from users’ perspectives; (iii) proposing activities to meet new requirements; (iv) proposing funding sources for such proposals; (v) to monitor activity implementation. It works through nine specialized commissions: agriculture, light aviation, transport aviation, education and training, environment and health, hydrology and energy, marine, civil security and land transport, tourism and information.

… additional case studies to be recommended by PAC-8

UIP REFERENCE DOCUMENTS AND DOCUMENTED PRACTICES

Link Title, author, date, scope

Global Framework for Climate Services - User Interface Platform ComponentDeveloped by the GFCS (2014)Description of the UIP GFCS pillar that provides a structured means for users, climate researchers and climate service providers to interact at the global, regional, and national levels to ensure that the GFCS meets user needs for climate services. Includes examples of activities to promote (i) Feedback, (ii) Dialogue, (iii) Outreach and (iv) Monitoring and Evaluation.

Guidance on Good Practices for Climate Services User EngagementDeveloped by the Expert Team on User Interface for Climate Services, Commission for Climatology (2018)

Intended for the providers of climate services, in particular for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, but will also be of use to other organizations involved in the development, delivery and use of climate services

PAC-9/Doc. 3.3, DRAFT 1, p. 8

Energy Exemplar to the User Interface Platform (UIP) of the Global Framework for Climate ServicesDeveloped by WMO and GFCS (2017)

This document defines UIPs as “forums for forging the stakeholder relationships needed to define needsand respond to requirements for climate information and services in particular sectors and contexts”

Mid-Term Review of the Global Framework for Climate ServicesRequested by the IBCS (2017)

The GFCS mid-term review points ambiguous language was used to state the milestones in relation with the User Interface Platform (UIP).

Scoping Workshop for the Development of the GFCS HelpdeskDWD, GFCS (2017)

The workshop brought together a group of experts to identify gaps and barriers to understanding climate services and national level implementation, as well as sharing lessons learned from existing platforms. The workshop helped emphasize and advance the notion of the UIP and outline the content and format for the design of the HelpDesk for the GFCS, with a step-wise approach.

… additional references to be recommended by PAC-8

GUIDANCE ON THE SKILLS AND ACTIVITIES THAT LEAD TO EFFECTIVE UIP ACTIVITIES

3.3.13 Based on the systematic documentation of good practices, the WG would recommend specific skills and activities that lead to effective UIP activities.

__________