World Climate Programme

WMO, as the lead agency, provides for the overall co-ordination of the World Climate Programme (WCP) as well as for the World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme and the World Climate Applications and Services Programme. These functions are provided by the WCP Department, which is also responsible for the overall co-ordination of the Agricultural Meteorology Programme of the WMO.

The purpose of the WCP is to provide an authoritative international scientific voice on climate change and to assist countries to apply climate information and knowledge to sustainable development and the implementation of Agenda 21, as adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992.

Four main components

To accomplish its purpose, the WCP must embrace the study and monitoring of the entire climate system. The four major components of the WCP are:

- World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP);

- World Climate Applications and Services Programme (WCASP) ;

- World Climate Impact Assessment and Response Strategies Programme (WCIRP);

- World Climate Research Programme (WCRP);

and is supported by the WMO/UNEP/IOC/ICSU Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) as an essential activity associated with the WCP.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will be responsible for the WCIRP; the WCRP is being jointly implemented by WMO, the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC). The Executive Heads of these and other organizations involved such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme meet regularly to ensure co-ordination of all inter-agency climate activities.