Lima, April 16, 2009.- Delegates of meteorology institutes, environmental authorities and representatives of the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Relief (CAPRADE) seek today, at a subregional workshop in Lima, to define a regional working plan to strengthen climate forecasting and early warning capacities in the Andean Community that would make it possible to plan and act more effectively to reduce negative effects. 

CAN Secretary General Freddy Ehlers today inaugurated the subregional workshop "Opportunities to strengthen climate forecasting and early warning capacities in confronting climate change,” which enjoys the support of Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), the CAN-EU Cooperation Project, and the Government of Finland, in a ceremony also attended by the Ambassador of Finland in Lima. 

The CAN Secretary General stated that at a time when mankind is confronting one of the most dramatic situations in its history because of the ecological and economic crisis, the first of the 21 proposals formulated almost two years ago at the international Clima Latino Conference assumes renewed validity.   That proposal urges the countries to “define a new development model in which priority is given to values that guarantee man’s integral development and his harmonious relationship with nature."

The Andean countries, he pointed out, have only a limited capacity and resources to cope with extreme meteorological conditions and the potential effects of climate change, and for that reason, it is “important to strengthen the capacity for observing the climate and predicting the potential effects of climate change on the development of the Andean countries.”   

The Ambassador of Finland, for his part, stated that his country’s government considers itself responsible for transmitting its experience in and knowledge of meteorological prediction and early warning and, in that connection, called the subregional workshop “extremely important” for marking the start of a more in-depth conversation about how to improve cooperation and technology, with a view towards successfully fighting the problem that affects us all, but that is reflected more strongly in the Andean countries.   

During the morning session of the subregional workshop, being held at the headquarters of the CAN General Secretariat, international and subregional experiences and advances in meteorological prediction and early warning were shared.  At the afternoon session, the priorities will be studied and recommendations and a regional working plan formulated on the subject.