DR LAXMAN Singh Rathore elected as Co-Vice Chairman of IBCS

New Delhi, July 9, 2013: Dr Laxman Singh Rathore, Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India with World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has been elected as Co-Vice Chairman of Intergovernmental Board of Climate Services (IBCS) during its first meeting held at Geneva during 1st to 5th July 2013.

Dr. Rathore was recently elected as member of the Executive Council of the WMO and has earlier served a term as Vice President of Commission of Agriculture Meteorology. Anton Eliassen, Director General, Norway Meteorological Institute has been elected as Chair and Dr Linda Makuleni, South Africa is the other Co-Vice Chair.

With the appointment of Rathore, India, who is championing the cause of developing nations is poised to play a crucial role in implementation of Global Framework of Climate Service (GFCS). WMO launched GFCS as key outcome of World Climate Conference (WCC)-3 aiming to enables better management of the risks of climate variability and change and adaptation to climate change, through the development and incorporation of science-based climate information and prediction into planning, policy and practice on the global, regional and national scale. The four priority areas of the GFCS are Agriculture and Food Security, Disaster Risk Reduction, Health and Water.

As is known that Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) was the principal outcome of WCC-2 and it won the Nobel Prize for distinguished services in understanding climate change and creating awareness on the subject.