On April 25, Dr. CHEN Zhenlin, Administrator of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), met with Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Beijing. They discussed deepening practical cooperation between CMA and OCHA.

On April 25, Dr. CHEN Zhenlin met with Tom Flecher. Photoed by ZHANG Aoguang

CHEN Zhenlin welcomed Tom Flecher for visiting CMA. He introduced CMA's continuous efforts in elevating global service capacity, and that to actively implement UN Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4LL), the China Action Plan on Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation (2025-2027) was released during COP29 last year, which was the first national plan of this kind in the world. CMA has also developed a cloud-based early warning system, and actively supported developing countries in enhancing their early warning capacity building, establishing an international training system for early warning. CMA has enjoyed longstanding cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization Coordination Mechanism (WCM) to jointly support UN humanitarian operations.

He noted the great potential for cooperation between CMA and OCHA in areas such as disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness, and early warning technologies, hoping both sides would enhance communication and coordination, share knowledge and best practices, further deepen bilateral practical cooperation, jointly mitigate the humanitarian impact of extreme weather events, in a bid to further contribute to humanitarian actions and global sustainable development.

Tom Fletcher expressed gratitude to CMA for its remarkable contributions to global disaster prevention, reduction, and relief efforts, particularly commending China's "people-centered" concept. He emphasized that OCHA's approach of utilizing science and technology as well as innovation to anticipate and respond to humanitarian crises closely aligns with EW4LL. Tom Fletcher hoped that both sides would strengthen pragmatic cooperation to effectively tackle global challenges such as meteorological disasters and climate change, thereby advancing the implementation of EW4ALL. He expected China's leadership role in setting exemplary models for the world, affirming confidence that China's early warning systems, weather monitoring and analysis technologies would offer valuable solutions to save more lives and enhance global capabilities in disaster prevention and mitigation.

After the meeting, a Letter of Intent between OCHA and CMA was signed.

Tom Flecher also visited relevant institutions under CMA, and gained deeper understanding about weather forecasting, FENGYUN satellite international application, and public meteorological services.

Editor: LIU Shuqiao