World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)

Quality Assurance/Science Activity Centre (QA/SAC)

for Asia and the South-West Pacific

Second International Seminar on Monitoring Network
for Greenhouse Gases in Asia and the Pacific Region

8 - 12 February 1999
Tokyo, Tsukuba, and Kyoto, Japan

SUMMARY

  1. Serious concern is growing about increased concentrations of greenhouse gases which may enhance global warming adversely affecting everyday life in Asia and the Pacific Region.
  2. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), having implemented the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) programme since 1989, is strengthening its efforts to further develop GAW in cooperation with monitoring programmes of other relevant environmental initiatives. The 50th session of the WMO Executive Council in 1998 urged national Meteorological Services to set up and enhance their national GAW observation programmes.
  3. In the present international seminar, the participants from China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Viet Nam, and WMO reviewed the present status and future prospects of greenhouse gas observations in the region and discussed strategies to strengthen regional cooperation. It was agreed that regional observational programmes should be improved as soon as possible.
  4. The participants agreed that regional cooperation in greenhouse gas observations and climate change monitoring should be maintained and strengthened through extensive information exchange.
  5. It was expressed that the WMO World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) and the Quality Assurance/Science Activity Centre (QA/SAC) in the Japan Meteorological Agency, which serves as a focal point of regional GAW activity, should take an active role, in coordination with WMO Secretariat, to investigate the new greenhouse gas measurement sites in the region as outlined in the CLIMONET project. A product of the study during the Phase I of CLIMONET Project was a design of a regional network for measuring GHG. This design can be used as a guideline for possible improving GHG monitoring in the region.
  6. The participants expressed their sincere thanks to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Japan Weather Association (JWA), and the local secretariat's staff for the excellent arrangements and warm hospitality to them during the seminar.
QA/SAC-Japan