60 years of service for your safety and well-being

--Message by Michel Jarruad, Secretary-General of WMO, on the occasion of World Meteorological Day 2010


致力于人类安全和福祉的六十年

——世界气象组织秘书长米歇尔•雅罗2010年世界气象日的献词



Every year on 23 March, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the international meteorological community join in celebrating World Meteorological Day, to commemorate the coming into force of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, precisely 30 days after the day when the thirtieth instrument of ratification of the Convention was deposited by countries wishing to join the new Organization. The text of the Convention had previously been approved unanimously, on 11 October 1947, by representatives of 31 countries at a Conference of Directors of National Meteorological Services held in Washington, D.C.


每年3月23日，世界气象组织（WMO）和国际气象界共同庆祝世界气象日，以纪念《世界气象组织公约》于1950年3月23日正式生效的日子，更确切而言，那是在希望加入这个新组织的国家交存第30份《公约》批准书之后第30天起生效之日。早在1947年10月11日，出席在华盛顿特区召开的国家气象局长大会的31个国家代表就已一致批准了《公约》文本。


Until then, international collaboration in meteorology had been the mission of the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which resulted from a process launched at the First International Meteorological Congress (Vienna, September 1873) to facilitate coordinated observations and instrument standardization and which was also responsible for the 1896 publishing of the first international cloud-atlas. The IMO assumed its form through a sequence of decisions adopted by an ad-hoc Permanent Committee presided by C.H.D. Buys Ballot (Netherlands), during the period between the Vienna Congress and the Second International Meteorological Congress (Rome, April 1879).


在此之前，国际气象合作曾一直是国际气象组织（IMO）的使命，这一合作起源于第一次国际气象大会（1873年9月，维也纳）发起的一个旨在促进开展协调观测并实现仪器标准化的进程，而且通过国际合作该组织还成就了于1896年出版的第一部国际云图集。在维也纳大会至第二次国际气象大会（1879年4月，罗马）期间，由C.H.D.布依斯·巴洛特（荷兰）主持的一个特别常设委员会通过了一系列决定，国际气象组织这才变得羽丰形满。


A key outcome of the Rome Congress was the establishing of the International Meteorological Committee, firstly presided by Heinrich Wild (Russia/Switzerland), with the responsibility to review IMO progress periodically and to take any necessary actions. Thus was born the predecessor of our WMO Executive Council. Moreover, although the two congresses were governmental meetings, the International Meteorological Committee agreed that IMO would function more efficiently, at that time, as a non-governmental organization. Therefore, no further International Meteorological Congresses were convened by IMO and a system of Conferences of Directors of Meteorological Services was established instead, on a non-governmental basis.


罗马大会的一个重要成果是组建了国际气象委员会，该委员会第一次会议由海恩里奇·威尔德（俄罗斯/瑞士）主持召开，其职责是定期审议IMO的进展情况，并采取任何必要的行动。这个后来成为WMO执行理事会的前身机构由此问世。然而，虽然前两次大会属于政府间会议，但是国际气象委员会一致认为：当时国际气象组织作为一个非政府组织将会更有效地发挥作用。从此，IMO不再继续召开国际气象大会，而以建立按非政府机构运作的气象局长大会制度取而代之。


In addition to its key role in the standardization of observations, IMO made outstanding contributions to scientific research, in particular by organizing the first two International Polar Years, during the periods 1882-1883 and 1932-1933, on a scale that exceeded the capabilities of any single nation.
IMO and WMO in fact coexisted for a very short period, before the final IMO Conference of Directors gathered in Paris from 15-17 March 1951, and, at its closure, IMO President Sir Nelson Johnson (UK) formally declared that IMO ceased to exist and that WMO had taken its place. Two days later, on 19 March 1951, the First WMO Congress opened in Paris and at the end of the same year, on 20 December 1951, The United Nations General Assembly adopted its Resolution 531(VI) and WMO became a specialized agency of the United Nations System.


国际气象组织除了在观测标准化方面发挥其关键作用外，它还特别在1882～1883年和1932～1933年期间通过组织前两次国际极地年为科学研究做出了突出贡献，其规模超出任何一个国家的能力。事实上，在1951年3月15-17日在巴黎召开最后一次成员国气象局长大会之前，国际气象组织和世界气象组织共存了很短的一段时期。在这次大会闭幕时，国际气象组织主席纳尔逊·约翰逊爵士（英国）正式宣布，国际气象组织不复存在，而由世界气象组织取而代之。两天以后即1951年3月19日，第一次世界气象组织大会在巴黎开幕。同年年底，1951年12月20日，联合国大会通过其第531（VI）号决议，世界气象组织成为联合国系统的一个专门机构。


WMO was therefore fortunate that its founders chose to erect it upon the solid base laid out by IMO and through a Convention which, with minor amendments, has succeeded in providing all the strength and the flexibility needed by WMO to take appropriate initiatives and to face the challenges it encountered over six decades. From the start, WMO was recognized as the paradigm of successful international cooperation and even the Cold War was no impediment, since meteorology does not distinguish political boundaries, so cooperation flourished during those difficult years. Observational networks were extended to cover practically the entire globe and measurements were expanded to include all traditional and even some non-traditional environmental parameters.


因此，世界气象组织的幸运在于，其创始人选择将本组织建立在国际气象组织所奠定的坚实基础之上，并通过一个只略作修改的《公约》，成功地提供了世界气象组织需要的所有实力和灵活性，以采取适当的行动，并迎接过去六十年来所遇到的各种挑战。从一开始，世界气象组织就被公认为国际合作的成功典范，甚至在冷战时期也没有障碍，因为气象不区分政治界限，所以在那些艰难的岁月，合作依然欣欣向荣。观测网络扩大到实际覆盖的整个地球，测量范围则扩大到涵盖所有传统的、甚至某些非传统的环境参数。


WMO was however always aware of the risks and the 1986 WMO Technical Document No 99 - Possible Climatic Consequences of a Major Nuclear War - shall remain a historic reference for future generations. The nuclear winter scenario has now ceased to be a major concern but, by then, WMO had released its 1976 authoritative statement on the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the potential impacts on the Earth’s climate, which contributed to focus attention on global warming and climate change, clearly seen today as a major threat to sustainable development and even to human survival, and which United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has identified as “the defining challenge of our era”.


然而，WMO对这些风险始终有清醒的意识。1986年，WMO出版了第99号技术文件，题为《重大核战争可能带来的气候后果》，该文件对子孙后代将是一份具有历史意义的参考文献。核冬天现已不再是人类主要担心的情景，但是之后，WMO于1976年发布了关于大气二氧化碳累积及其对地球气候潜在影响的权威声明，促使国际社会重点关注全球变暖和气候变化问题，今天，显而易见，这个问题对可持续发展，甚至是人类生存均构成了一个主要威胁，联合国秘书长潘基文已将其称为“我们这个时代的决定性挑战”。


Following the First World Climate Conference, organized in 1979 to consider the looming threat of climate change and its potential impacts, WMO and ICSU established the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), subsequently also joined by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. WCRP has been vital for science, in particular by providing the scientific foundation of the assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which WMO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have co-sponsored since 1988 and which at the end of 2007 received the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.


1979年举办了第一次世界气候大会，大会考虑了气候变化的威胁及其潜在影响。继这次大会之后，WMO和国际科学理事会设立了世界气候研究计划（WCRP），随后联合国教科文组织的政府间海洋学委员会（IOC）也加入其中。WCRP在科学上具有至关重要的意义，特别是对于政府间气候变化专门委员会（IPCC）的评估报告而言，可谓提供了科学基础，IPCC于1988年成立，是由WMO和联合国环境规划署（UNEP）共同发起的，2007年年底IPCC荣获了著名的诺贝尔和平奖。


Moreover, as a consequence of the Second World Climate Conference (Geneva, November 1990), WMO joined forces with ICSU, UNEP and the IOC of UNESCO to establish the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).  In addition, the Second World Climate Conference set in motion the process leading to the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).


此外，作为第二次世界气候大会（1990年11月，日内瓦）的一项成果，WMO与国际科学理事会、联合国环境规划署和联合国教科文组织的政府间海洋学委员会一道建立了全球气候观测系统（GCOS）。另外，第二次世界气候大会启动了最终导致建立联合国气候变化框架公约（UNFCCC）的进程。


Another major challenge arrived in 1975 when WMO convened a group of experts to release an authoritative statement alerting the world on the thinning of our protective stratospheric ozone layer shielding us from exposure to excessive ultraviolet radiation. The ozone-hole issue demonstrated the importance of long-term measurements, without which ozone destruction would have continued unabated and might not have been detected until more serious damage was evident.  The ensuing Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention has been an outstanding example of collaboration among scientists and decision-makers.


1975年面临了另外一个重大挑战，那时WMO召集一批专家发表了一份权威性声明，警示世人阻使我们免受过量紫外线辐射影响的平流层中臭氧层正在变薄。臭氧空洞问题表明，长期测量至关重要。若不开展长期测量，臭氧将继续无节制地遭受破坏，而且也许发展到明显的严重程度时才会发现臭氧层已遭破坏。随后签订的维也纳公约下的蒙特利尔议定书一直是科学家与决策者开展合作的一个杰出范例。


As we look back over these six decades, several developments opened exceptional scientific and technological possibilities for the Organization; for example, the launching of artificial satellites and the unprecedented possibilities which they offered in terms of observations, in coincidence with the thriving development of computers and telecommunications. These initially individual factors soon converged to facilitate real-time international exchange of data and products and the implementation of the World Weather Watch, a key WMO programme, which became the basis for the others.


当我们回首过去60年的历程，有几个发展动向使本组织特有的科学技术成为可能，例如人造卫星的发射及其在观测方面提供的前所未有的可能性，无独有偶，计算机和通信也取得了蓬勃发展。这些最初单个因素不久便集中起来，促进了国际资料和产品的实时交换和世界天气监视网的实施，该监视网是WMO的一个关键计划，并成为其它计划的基础。


WMO sponsored research flourished. After the Organization assumed IMO responsibilities, it joined forces with the International Council for Science (ICSU) to launch the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year and, more recently, the International Polar Year 2007-2008, which is still producing exceptional scientific results. WMO and ICSU organized in 1967 the Global Atmospheric Research Programme and its famous experiments, among which the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment, the Monsoon Experiment and the 1978-1979 First GARP Global Experiment, or Global Weather Experiment.


WMO发起的研究工作得到了蓬勃发展。在本组织继承了国际气象组织的职责后，WMO与国际科学理事会（ICSU）共同努力发起了1957～1958年国际地球物理年。最近，又发起了2007～2008年国际极地年，同样取得了特有的科学成果。WMO和ICSU于1967年组织了全球大气研究计划（GARP）及其几次著名的试验，其中包括GARP大西洋热带试验、季风试验和1978～1979年首次GARP全球试验或全球天气试验。


Marked improvement in weather forecasting soon followed:  whereas in 1950 we only could hope for 24- to 36-hour forecasts, today we have useful seven-day predictions, an achievement of WMO’s international coordinating role in observations, research, analysis and modelling, and also led to longer-range predictions, from a season to a year ahead. This would not have been possible without the free and unrestricted international exchange of data and products, a concept so implicitly structured in the spirit of the WMO Convention that it had not been formally included initially.


很快在天气预报方面取得了显著进展：1950年，我们仅希望能够制作24至36小时预报，而今天我们能够制作有用的7天预报，这是WMO在观测、研究、分析和模拟领域发挥国际协调作用取得的一项成就，我们还促进了更长时间尺度的预测，可提前一个季节甚至一年预测。若没有资料和产品免费和无限制的国际交换，上述预测是无法实现的，这一理念虽然蕴含在《世界气象组织公约》的精神中但最初并未正式写入。


By the 1990s, however, the international services-delivery structure had substantially evolved from its form of the 1950s, and at one point this situation developed enough for it to become a major challenge, which was addressed by WMO Members with foresight and determination, within the traditional spirit of cooperation and satisfactorily resolved through World Meteorological Congress Resolutions 40 (Cg-XII) and 25 (Cg-XIII).


然而，20世纪90年代，国家间提供服务的结构发生了很大演变，已不同于20世纪50年代的形式。这种形势发展到一定程度，足以构成一个重大挑战。富有远见和决心的WMO会员本着传统的合作精神迎接了这一挑战，并通过世界气象大会第40号决议（第12次大会）和25号决议（第13次大会）成功地化解了这难题。


Natural hazards pose very serious threats to human security, so WMO has devoted substantial efforts to develop operational warning systems and effective preparedness measures, which have contributed to a significant decrease in the associated loss of lives. To ensure that these benefits reach its Members, WMO has devoted considerable attention to the development needs of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, in particular in the least developed countries, to warrant that they have ready access to advanced products and the capacity to use them according to their national requirements and their global commitments, an objective driven by WMO’s fundamental mission.


由于自然灾害对人类安全构成了严重威胁，因此WMO在发展业务预警系统和有效防御措施方面投入了巨大努力，这些努力大大降低了相关的生命损失。为确保其会员从中受益，WMO高度重视国家气象和水文部门，尤其是最不发达国家的气象和水文部门的发展需求，旨在保证它们随时获得先进产品，并具备根据本国的需求及其承担的全球义务使用这些产品的能力，这是WMO的根本使命所推动的一个目标。


During these 60 years, the map of the world has changed substantially, and today WMO’s Membership comprises 189 countries and territories, following the recent incorporation of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on 4 December 2009.  However, at the time of joining WMO some of our newer Members lack the experience and the resources to establish even the most fundamental weather services in support of their sustainable development, so technical cooperation and education and training are areas in which WMO accomplishments have clearly made a difference.


六十年间，世界地图已出现很大变化，随着2009年12月4日东帝汶民主共和国的加入，当前世界气象组织的会员包括了189个国家和地区。然而，一些新会员当初加入世界气象组织时由于十分缺乏经验和资源，以至于不能建立最基本的气象服务来支持其可持续发展，所以技术合作、教育培训是WMO的工作领域，WMO在这些领域的成就已使局面出现明显改观。


The resolution to incorporate hydrology within the scope of WMO developed between the Second (1955) and Third (1959) World Meteorological Congresses. The latter established the Commission for Hydrological Meteorology, which by 1971 had evolved into the present CHy. Thanks to these key decisions, surface and ground water monitoring and quality controls have enabled WMO to issue authoritative warnings against dwindling water supplies, especially in view of mounting population pressure and water pollution, while WMO integrated water resources management is showing the way to optimize the exploitation of our limited fresh water resources.


在第二次世界气象大会（1955年）至第三次世界气象大会（1959年）期间形成的决议将水文学纳入了WMO的范畴。后者设立了水文气象学委员会，到1971年演变为今天的水文学委员会。由于这些重要决定，对地表水和地下水的监测和质量控制已使WMO具备了发布权威预警的能力，以应对供水日益减少的局面，特别是鉴于不断增加的人口压力和水污染，而WMO综合水资源管理指明了优化开发利用有限淡水资源的方向。


It is today traditional to focus the annual World Meteorological Day celebration on a special theme and at its sixtieth session the WMO Executive Council decided that in 2010 this theme would be “the World Meteorological Organization – 60 Years of service for your safety and well-being”, a specially appropriate theme at a time when communities around the globe are striving to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, in particular concerning health, food and water security and poverty alleviation, as well as to improve their resilience in the face of recurrent natural disasters and to assist them in proactively responding to the mounting impacts of climate variability and change.


今天是按传统一年一度根据一个特定主题庆祝世界气象日的一天，WMO执行理事会第六十次届会决定2010年世界气象日的主题为“世界气象组织--致力于人类安全和福祉的六十年”。正当国际社会努力实现联合国千年发展目标时，尤其是在人类健康，粮食和水安全以及减少贫困方面，提高其应对频繁发生的自然灾害的承受能力并帮助其提前应对不断加大的气候变率和变化的影响时，该主题恰如其分。


Several other WMO programmes and activities have provided exceptional examples during these six decades of the socioeconomic benefits that can be achieved by many sectors through cooperation in meteorology, especially in terms of human safety and well-being.  Obvious examples include agriculture and food security, health, transportation, tourism, construction and energy, among others. It might be impractical and even inequitable to give credit to all of them in this short message, so they are considered far more fittingly in the 2010 World Meteorological Day booklet “World Meteorological Organization – 60 years of service for your safety and well-being”.


许多部门或行业通过气象合作，特别是在人类安全与福祉方面的合作能够取得社会经济效益，六十年来，WMO的其它一些计划和活动树立了特殊范例。其中突出的范例包括在农业与粮食安全、卫生、交通运输、旅游、建筑和能源等领域。以此简短献词评价所有这些领域或许既不现实，也有失公正。因此，更为妥当的做法是在2010年世界气象日的题为“世界气象组织--致力于人类安全和福祉的六十年”小册子中一一予以考虑。


The new booklet is also a renewed effort to preserve WMO history for future generations.  I am indeed confident that the theme of World Meteorological Day 2010: “the World Meteorological Organization – 60 Years of service for your safety and well-being” will contribute to further engage all WMO Members and partners, for which I wish to congratulate them wholeheartedly.


这个新的小册子也在努力将WMO的历史留存于后世。我确信，2010年世界气象日的主题“世界气象组织--致力于人类安全和福祉的六十年”将为WMO各会员和合作伙伴的进一步参与做出贡献，为此，我谨向他们表示衷心的祝贺。


I also would like to recall that Heads of State and Government, Ministers and senior government officials of 160 countries, participating from 31 August to 4 September 2009 in the High-level Segment of World Climate Conference-3 (WCC-3), unanimously agreed to establish a Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) to strengthen the provision and use of climate predictions, products and information worldwide.


我谨在此回顾这样一个事实，2009年8月31日至9月4日出席第三次世界气候大会（WCC-3）高层会议的160位国家元首和政府首脑、部长和高级官员一致同意建立全球气候服务框架（GFCS），以加强在全球范围内提供和应用气候预测、产品和信息。


This GFCS will be crucial to support climate change-resilient societies. Through strengthened observations, research and information, as well as novel interaction mechanisms between climate information users and providers, the Framework will ensure that all societal sectors have user-friendly climate products enabling them to better plan ahead in the face of a changing climate.


全球气候服务框架的重要性在于，它将为承受气候变化的各国社会提供支持。通过加强化观测、研究和完善信息，以及通过在气候信息用户与提供方之间建立创新的互动机制，全球气候服务框架将确保社会各部门或行业通过用户友好界面获得气候产品，以使他们能够为应对不断变化的气候提前做出更好的规划。


I am convinced that through this initiative and others that will follow, WMO will be even more relevant in serving humanity over decades to come.  For this capability we are all in debt to successive generations of meteorologists and hydrologists from all countries.  To all of them we pay tribute on the occasion of the 2010 World Meteorological Day.


我深信，通过此次活动以及其它后续活动，WMO在未来几十年将为人类提供更加贴切的服务。我们具备这种能力归功于各国几代气象工作者和水文工作者的努力。值此2010年世界气象日之际，我们谨向他们致敬。