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Hydrometeorological investments have trended an overall rise since the mid-1990s when the World Bank’s (WB) investments in National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHSs) were structured as small-scale activities, and have gradually shifted toward developing more complete systems. This guidebook aims to provide a structured basis to approach the task of transforming and developing capacities of national meteorological and hydrological services in the WB client countries. The guidebook’s primary focus is to help the World Bank task teams and development partners working with national governments to strengthen NMHSs’ capabilities in producing and delivering services required by the governments, stakeholders, partners, and users. The guidebook will also serve to explain the process of transformation to NMHSs’ managers and staff. It also intends to help development institutions that are committed to NMHSs’ support through the Alliance for Hydromet Development launched at the Conference of the Parties (COP25) in December 2019.

The societal need for more accurate and reliable weather, climate, and hydrological information is growing fast as population density and migration increases and climate change takes place. Nowhere is this need more acutely felt than in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The four environmental risks all have a higher-than-average likelihood of occurrence and are tangibly affecting human well-being, including health and economic prosperity. How can these environmental risks be reduced, and losses avoided? Because weather, climate, and the water cycle know no national boundaries, international cooperation is essential for people and society to get timely access to high quality and actionable information to mitigate the threat of meteorological and hydrological hazards. This international cooperation takes place in what is called the Global Weather Enterprise (GWE), a term coined to describe the totality of activities by individuals and organizations to enable weather information to be created and provided to society. The GWE is a supreme exemplar of the value of international cooperation, public-private management, and scientific technological know-how. This report is arranged as follows: Chapter 1 examines the current state of the GWE, the need for modernizing National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), and the difficulties of sustaining improvements once they occur; Chapter 2 takes an in-depth look at NMHSs, highlighting the unacceptably big gap between the capabilities of the most and least advanced ones; Chapter 3 examines why NMHSs need to focus more on providing the services that their stakeholders need and want; and Chapter 4 provides detailed recommendations for modernizing NMHSs.

Training courses by the IRI about the health initiative in Madagascar.