GENEVA: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) voted Thursday for Argentina’s Celeste Saulo to become its first female leader and steer the body’s important global role in dealing with climate change.
Saulo, a WMO vice-president who had been the head of Argentina’s weather service since 2014, won a landslide victory at the Geneva UN World Meteorological Organization’s congress.
According to AFP, the organization’s role in climate change has become critical and prominent, and Saulo will expectedly become a renowned advocate on this pressing world problem.
Following her victory, she said that in these times when climate change and inequality are the greatest global threats, the WMO must contribute to consolidating the hydrological and meteorological services to protect peoples and their economies, providing effective and timely services and early warning systems.
Saulo will take over from secretary-general Petteri Taalas on 1 January. The Finnish meteorologist is nearing the end of his maximum second 4-year term.
The WMO put together international efforts to monitor sea levels, temperatures, greenhouse gases, glacier melting, and other indicators of climate change.
Climate monitoring
It relies on thousands of weather stations and satellites to measure important parameters of the atmosphere, ocean, and land.
The leadership polls were held on the penultimate day of the WMC, the general assembly of 193 member countries and territories, which takes place every 4 years.
The congress, which opened on 22 May, voted to ensure that everyone on the Earth is covered by early warning systems for dangerous weather events by the end of 2027.
