Weather Kids Campaign takes centre stage for World Meteorological Day

“The climate crisis is THE defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis. The year 2023 was by far the hottest on record, as were the last 9 years,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. 

“Extreme weather events are increasing, and have huge socio-economic impacts - heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and intense tropical cyclones. Meteorological and hydrological services and scientists worldwide are sounding the Red Alert and are scaling up efforts to deal with the challenge,” she said.

World Meteorological Day on 23 March spotlights the vital role of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in saving lives and livelihoods.

The work of the WMO community is indispensable to climate action and to the Sustainable Development Goals across the board. The work is of huge societal importance: reducing hunger and poverty; improving health and well-being; ensuring clean water and affordable and clean energy; protecting life below the water and life on land; and making our cities and communities more resilient to climate change.

WMO, its Members, and its partners drive the full value cycle, from science to services to action for the good of society. It advances knowledge of our Earth system, monitors the state of the climate and water resources, provides scientific information to inform greenhouse gas emissions reductions and delivers climate services and early warnings to support climate adaptation.

Science is central to solutions and can supercharge progress on the SDGs across the board.

Many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services have collaborated in the production and diffusion of the Weather Kids campaign, which will air on news channels in more than 80 countries around the world.

It is launched at the high-level World Meteorological Day ceremony in Geneva. The event will be webcast around the world.

“The Weather Kids add a powerful voice to alert us to a future that will certainly materialize if we do not take meaningful climate action today,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “Continued inertia on climate change will lead to an increasingly uninhabitable planet for the ‘kids of today’ and future generations. We can only course-correct if we move at speed and scale now. That includes decarbonizing our economies and advancing access to affordable, clean energy for all; protecting and restoring our natural world; and empowering communities to have their say in their countries’ climate pledges.”

The campaign is supported by global celebrities and UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, including Oscar-winning Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh, American actor Connie Britton and Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

The Weather Kids campaign, created in partnership with the UN Environment Programme and The Weather Channel, calls for urgent climate action for the next generations.