This is an incomplete post salvaged from the internet archive.

-by Sarah

This afternoon I attended a side event about climate observations, predictions, and resulting implementation into development decisions. William Westermeyer of the Global Climate Observation System (GCOS) began by zipping through a powerpoint which had much more information in its slides than was possible to read before he moved on. He introduced the concept of GCOS and its initiative in Africa (ClimDev Africa, short for- as you can probably guess- Climate Development Africa). The goal of GCOS and its subsequent regional programs is to mainstream climate information into development decisions, and in the case of Clim Dev Africa he stressed the ownership of the program be primarily within Africa, in collaboration with outsode actors (presumably UN branches, developed countries, and so on). GCOS is one way the UN is trying to carry out the 5-year work program under Decision 2/COP 11, which calls for action on impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation to climate change through better data and observation collection.