PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications Hon. Ted Richardson recently received a summary report from Desiree Connor, Junior Meteorologist, Climatology Section at the Meteorological Department St. Maarten (MDS).
Connor travel to Beijing, China in the latter half of October where she attended the 2nd International Training Course on Regional Climate Prediction & Drought Monitoring.
Sint Maarten's MDS received an invitation from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Permanent Representative for the Caribbean Region, Dr. Albert Martis, who is the Director for the Meteorological Department of Curacao.
The course aimed to help participants have a good understanding of short-term climate prediction and drought-related issues. The course is also designed to help participants learn new techniques of diagnosis and attribution on extreme climate events (especially drought events) and improve the climate prediction skills in developing countries.
Minister Hon. Ted Richardson stated on Sunday that the further training of staff is necessary to keep them abreast of new techniques, procedures in climate predictions and forecasting.
"We have to continue to give our people the tools to work with in order for them to be able to perform to their best abilities. Investment in human resources is key in order for country Sint Maarten to move forward," Minister Hon. Ted Richardson summarized on Sunday.
Connor pointed out in her report that the new techniques she has learnt will further enhance the services rendered to the community of Sint Maarten and other stakeholders by MDS.
Enhancements will be seen in the production of short-term predictions (monthly, seasonal, and annual) as well as long-term projections (decadal and beyond).
Besides monthly outlooks on temperature and rainfall that is currently done, the new methods, tools and procedures would be very essential in defining the climatic personality of Sint Maarten and the North Eastern Caribbean region in general.
Desiree Connor added that meeting counterparts from around the world have already proved worthwhile since MDS has already started setting up a network to share climate data.
The network will be used to assist in the monitoring of major events before and after they occur such as droughts, floods, typhoons/hurricanes, dust storms, earthquakes, etc.
The knowledge of using different techniques was also passed on as well.
The international training course was co-sponsored by WMO and the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), also known as the WMO Regional Training Center Beijing.
Countries in attendance were: Barbados, Botswana, China, Cambodia, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Ukraine, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
