Report of the Nineteenth Session of the Forum on Regional Climate

Monitoring-Assessment-Prediction for Asia (RAII)

FOCRAII

8-10 May 2023

Nanning, China

General Features of the Forum

The FOCRAII held in Nanning, China, during 8-10 May 2023, sponsored by WMO and CMA, hosted by the Beijing Climate Centre and the Guangxi Meteorological Service, was a response to addressing the needs of the RA II region for CliMAP (see Appendices II & III for Final Agenda and List of Participants).   

The main objectives of the Forum are:

lTo review the progress made in the CliMAP programs and the activities both within RA II and the world with a specific focus on the challenges and opportunities in seasonal to inter-annual climate prediction methodologies and systems unique to the RA II region. 

lTo provide a platform for the members of RA II to share and exchange experience and knowledge on CliMAP. 

lTo build collaborations and partnerships among the members of RA II in the CliMAP programs as well as other international partners and activities.

lTo discuss collaborations among the members of RA II and other international partners to build an Asia-Pacific network of climate extreme events monitoring and assessment.(Or Building Plan for Monitoring and Assessment System of Extreme Weather-climate Events in Asia)

There were totally 88 participants from 15 countries/territories (China, China Hong Kong, China Macao, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, United Kingdom, Viet Nam). There were a total of 12 overseas representatives attending on site, including WMO Secretariat, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan and Republic of Korea, while another 24 overseas representatives from China Hong Kong, China Macao, India, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, WMO, ESCAP, FAO, Asian Development Bank and the UKMO attended online.

Dr. Jiashuang YUAN, Deputy Director-General of BCC, Dr. Ben Churchill, Director of WMO Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific, and Dr. Chan XIAO, Deputy Director-General of Guangxi Meteorological Service, attended the forum and made opening speeches.

The Forum was organized in 6 sessions including invited lectures and oral presentations (see Appendix II for details). 

A “consensus” prediction of the summer climate in the RA II region was produced.

Broad consensus was made in enhancing cooperation between RCCs and NMHSs for producing better climate information for RA II.

In the summary session, many participants took the chance to comment on the Forum, highly appraised the exchange between climatologists and end-users, which greatly helped to improve climate services especially on seasonal forecast in Asian monsoon region.  

Overall, the participants were very happy with the preparations and conduct of the Forum. Also, majority of the participants was happy with the communications with the organizers on the objectives, content and necessary preparatory actions expected by the participants. Logistics arrangements were generally very satisfactory. 

Host of the 11^th EASCOF

JMA will host the 11th EASCOF (East ASia winter Climate Outlook Forum) which is formerly the Joint Meeting for the Seasonal Prediction of the East Asian Winter Monsoon in either late October or early November of 2023. The detailed time and place will be informed later.

Appendices

I: Climate Outlook for Asia (RA II), June-July-August (JJA) 2023

II: Final Agenda

III: List of Participants