The twentieth Session of the Forum on Regional Climate Monitoring, Assessment and Prediction for Asia (FOCRAII) opened in Qingdao, Shandong, China on May 9. This year marks its 20th anniversary.

Dr. BI Baogui, Deputy Administrator of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Mr. Ben Churchill, Head of the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific (RAP) of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Chris Hewitt, Director of WMO Climate Service Branch and Mr. Mingjie SONG, Vice Mayor of Qingdao City attended the opening ceremony.

Group Photo Credits to BCC

The forum also attracts more than 100 representatives from the Secretariat of WMO and 24 countries and regions, including China, the United Kingdom, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

Dr. BI Baogui said that Beijing Climate Centre has hosted the forum as a platform for WMO RA II (Asia) Members to learn from each other and share their experience in seasonal prediction, and that the forum has made important contributions to global and regional disaster prevention and mitigation and protected the wellbeing of people. He hoped that representatives would share knowledge and expertise in prediction techniques and climate services, and jointly contribute to the high-quality economic and social development.

During the forum Photoed by LIU Huan

The forum contains 37 offline and online reports in total as well as 23 poster presentations. From May 9 to 11, representatives will share the latest research and exchange discussions on climate services development, new technologies and methods such as artificial intelligence, and climate prediction and seasonal climate prediction.

Since 2005, Beijing Climate Centre (BCC) has hosted this forum annually. For the past two decades, it has constantly consolidated climate services and research in Asia, and ramped up the capacity of disaster prevention and mitigation in Asia.

The forum has been highly acclaimed by WMO and recommended to other regional associations of WMO as a template.

Editor: LIU Shuqiao