WMC Approves Global Greenhouse Gas Watch

Recently, the 19^th World Meteorological Congress (WMC) has approved the Global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Watch (G3W), a GHG monitoring initiative, to reduce the heat-trapping gases and combat Climate Change.

• The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)in the Collaboration with WHO also framed 2023-2033 Implementation Plan for Advancing Climate, Environment and Health Science and Services to manage the impact of Climate Change.

 What is the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)?

• The WMO is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 192 Member States and Territories.
  • India is a member of WMO.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO),which was established after the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
• Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23^rdMarch 1950, WMO became the specialized agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences.'
• WMO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

What is the Greenhouse Gas Watch (G3W)?

• About:
  • It will establish internationally coordinated top-down monitoring of greenhouse gas fluxes to support the provision of actionable information to theUNFCCC Parties and other stakeholders.
  • The GHG watch will fill critical information gaps and provide an integrated and operational framework.The framework will bring all space-based and surface-based observing systems, as well as modelling and data assimilation capabilities, under one roof.
• Implementation:
  • The monitoring infrastructure will build on and expand WMO’s long-standing activities in GHG monitoring, implemented as part of the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)and via its Integrated Global GHG Information System (IG3IS).
    • IG3IS aims to coordinate an integrated global GHG information system, linking inventory and flux model based information with atmospheric observationsand modelling, to provide the best possible estimates of greenhouse gas emissions at the national and urban scales.
  • Components:
    • Surface-based and satellite-based observations
    • Prior estimates of the GHG emissions based on activity data and process-based models
    • Global high-resolution Earth System models representing GHG cycles
    • Data assimilation systems associated with models to generate products of higher accuracy

• At present, there is no comprehensive, timely international exchangeof surface and space based GHG observations or modelling products.
• GHG monitoring infrastructure will help improve understanding of the carbon cycle. Understanding the full carbon cycle is vitally important for the planning of mitigation activities.
• Globally consistent, gridded information on GHG and their fluxes with appropriate time resolution will help in the improved evaluation of sourcesand sinks of GHG and indicate their association with the biosphere, the ocean and the permafrost areas.