overview

Recently, many parts of the world have experienced serious natural disasters associated with unusual climate. It is anticipated that the occurrence of extreme weather and climate events may become more frequent due to global warming and more erratic behavior of the ocean, such as the El Nino phenomenon.

The global economic loss due to extreme climate exceeded US$400 billion for the last ten years, which is a jump from the US$100 billion in 1980s. The GNPs were substantially reduced during the last major El Nino years, particularly over the Southeast Asian region, which had a significant impact on the global economy.

There has been a growing recognition that the international exchange of climate information is essential for minimizing natural disasters and their negative economic impacts. Among scientists and policy makers a consensus was reached that actions need to be taken to develop climate early warning systems and climate information networks at the regional scale to improve the monitoring and prediction of climate variations.