Messages from 1st SG Townhall with relevance for G3W
Discussion items
Time
Item
Who
Notes
50min
1st Townhall
Celeste
Townhall SG Keynote Contents
Brief presentation. Who is Celeste Saulo
Building from our strengths, identifying our current limitations
What kind of Organization do we aspire to be? Transforming words into action I
Empowering regions:Transforming words into actions II
Key aspects of leading flagship initiatives
Staff wellness at the heart of a Secretariat motivated to serve others
Who I am
PhD in Atmospheric Sciences - University of Buenos Aires- Argentina
Professor at the UBA (30 years) - Head of Research Group
Director of the National Meteorological Service of Argentina (9 years)
WMO EC member, 2nd VP, 1st VP
(Since 2015)
WMO strengths
UN specialized agency with clear mandate: climate-weather-water-environment. We work based on science and solid information.
Long history engaging with country Members:
monitoring the earth system
sharing information
defining best practices
supporting operational and critical services,
promoting targeted science to improve infrastructure, service delivery and policymaking
contributing to capacity development, seeking to reduce the development gaps
Climate change, water and food security, energy transition, sustainability ARE CORE ISSUES for every country. Are core issues for HUMANITY
Our current limitations
within the organization
Working in silos
Lack of trust
Too vertical
Too bureaucratic
outside the organization:
Slow at implementing
Weak/loose interaction with partners and UN family Limited visibility
Members not always on board
5min
Q&A
Gianpaolo
Dear SG, thank you for a compelling & inspiring talk. This resonates with me as leadership by example. Two questions and observations from me:
While I and the G3W-Team salute with enthusiasm a new era of Climate Action Support & Assessment (our CASA) at WMO.
What level of protection do you envisage for the communication aspects that can become target of organised actions. The example I can bring is the Climate Gate in 2010.https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/climategate-and-scientific-conduct WEF short term risk number 1 is Misinformation & Disinformation. Digital & Legal protections might be needed? Possibly Internal Training on Public Speaking on Climate Stakeholders might be helpful?
Working beyond NMHSs with Nations and working with the UNFCCC entities (see: G3W-UNFCCC-Reporting-Agencies (external link)) that are responsible for the GHGs Inventories and the National Determine Contributions, may require some creative thinking as sometimes the “silos” working styles has also ministerial roots. Those roots cannot be eradicated but need some clever gardeners that can save the plants nurture it and when the spring season come have flowers in blossom?
Action items
Gianpaolo to discuss with Communications experts to investigate Training for Public Speaking for Climate-Change
