WORLD METEOROLOGICAL DAY – 23 MARCH 2009 -“WEATHER, CLIMATE AND THE AIR WE BREATHE”

Every year, on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), its 188 countries and territories Members, as well as the worldwide meteorological communities, celebrate World Meteorological Day. This Day commemorates the entry into force, in 1950, of the Convention that created this specialized agency of the United Nations System, after the meeting of Meteorological Services Directors in September 1949. The International Meteorological Organization is the forerunner of the present-day World Meteorological Organization founded in 1873 in Vienna. For the year 2008 was chosen the theme “Weather, climate and the air we breathe”. Such a theme is particularly appropriate at a time when communities around the globe are struggling to attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, especially in terms of health, food, water security and poverty alleviation, as well as to increase their effectiveness in preventing and mitigating natural disasters, of which 90 per cent are directly related to weather, climate and water hazards and thereby fall within World Meteorological Organization mandate. Moreover, scientists and medical professionals are increasingly aware of the critical linkages between weather, climate, the composition of the air we breathe and their effects on human health. Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) has been organizing a set of activities in order to remind the population of the different areas of human activities in which meteorology plays an important role, in general, and, in particular, as the activities undertaken by SMG which contribute for the sustainable development of the Macao Special Administrative Region. The commemoration activities of the “World Meteorological Day 2009”, start with a celebration ceremony which will focus on the air quality in Macao, entitled “Macao’s air quality in the last 10 years”, with an objective to understand aspects related to the air we breathe in Macao in the last ten years and its impacts on our health.
The history has taught us that the hydrometeorology warning is very important for the population. So, starting from today, one more service of weather warning will be launched, namely the “Automatic weather information service - InfoMet”. This service consists of disseminating warnings from this Bureau and through an automatic installation of a program in user’s computer, the warnings issued will be automatically up-dated. With this new method of extreme weather warning dissemination, population could know in real-time the situation and can make the necessary precautions. A celebration ceremony will be held at SMG headquarters, on 23 of March at 10:00 a.m. in Taipa Grande with the presence of the Secretary for Publics Works and Transportation, Eng. Lau Si Io.