The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), are jointly developing a study on the impact of El Nino, a global weather phenomenon, on the Region, according to Barbados' Minister for Agriculture and Urban Development, the Hon. Anthony Wood.

Addressing the 40^th Session of the Caribbean Meteorological Council at the Sherbourne Centre in Barbados on 7the December, 2000, Mr. Wood said the joint effort is one of two new initiatives which are due to come on stream shortly, and which will further enhance the Region's capability to forecast.

"This project will attempt to design regional early warning systems to reduce the impact of the El Nino phenomenon, and evaluate the forecasting capacity of each country to anticipate and cope with El Nino consequences," Mr. Wood said. "This is an important initiative since El Nino, until recently, has been virtually unexplained, but its effect has at times been devastating in relation to several Central and South American countries. It has also had its impact on weather patterns in the Caribbean."

The second project, according to Mr. Wood, is partly financed by the Government of Finland and is aimed at "improvement of the telecommunications systems to enhance transmission and downloading of vital forecast information; rehabilitation and upgrading of the present aging observation equipment (presently) in use in the Region; renovation of the regional technical laboratory for the calibration and maintenance of instruments to ensure that observations are of consistent quality and reliability; (and) upgrading of database management, data storage and data rescue systems."

As regards the rehabilitation and upgrading of the aging observation equipment, Mr. Wood said emphasis will be placed on the Global Climate Observation System (GCOS), and on utilising new systems of measurement such as ultra violet and Ozone soundings.

The CMC Barbados meeting will run for two days and is specifically discussing the implementation of four new radar systems to service the entire Region.