HISTORY OF' THE COMMISSION FOR AGRICU LTU RAL METEOROLOGY

of the WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

Prepared by W. Baier,

I.G. Gringof, N.D. Strommen

(Task Force on Historical Perspectives

of CAgM)

WMO / TD - No, 440

secretariat of the World Meteorological Organization . Geneva . Switzerland 1991

NOTE

This re p ort has b een produced without edito rial revisio n by the WilliO Secretariat.

The designa t ions employed and th e presentatio n of material in this publication do not im pl y the exp ression of any opinion whatsoever on the p a rt of the Sec re tar ia t of the World Meteorological Organization concerning the legal status o f any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, o r conce rning the delimitation of its frontiers o r b oundaries.

CONTENTS PAGE

FOREWORD

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. PRE-WMO 4

- Pre-IMO (1853-1878) - IMO Formally Established - 1878 - Commission for Agricultural Meteorology - 1913 - Meetings of the Commission - Independence of IMO Challenged - 1934 - Last Three Meetings of The Commission

3. TRANSITION OF IMO TO WMO 11

- The Birth of WMO and CAgM - Terms of Reference for WMO - The Secretariat of WMO - Constituent Bodies of the WMO

- Congress - The Executive Committee - Regional Associations - Technical Commissions

- Terms of Reference for CAgM - .Collaboration With Other International Organizations

-UN - FAO - Unesco

4. POLICY, PLANS and GDALS . 18

- FIRST PERIOD 18

- The First President, Professor J.J. Burgos : 1951 -19 58 - Agrometeorology Defined - Proposed Affiliation with the Commission for

Climatology

111

PAGE

- Terms of Reference of CAgM - Review of IMO Resolutions Regarding Agricultural

Meteorology - Technical Regulations - Co-operation with Other Organizations

- Co-operation with FAO - Many other international organizations

- Collaboration with Agriculture - Organization of Agrometeorological Service - Technical Lectures - Guide to Agricultural Meteorological Practices - Hydrology - Biometeorology

- The Second President, Dr. P.M.A. Bourke: 1958-1962 - Forestry - Tropical Agrometeorology - The FAO/Unesco/WMO Inter-agency Project on

Agroclimatology - Locust Control

- SECOND PERIOD (1967-1974) 34

- The Third President, Mr. L.P. Smith: 1962-1971 -Agrometeorological Programme in Aid of World food

Production - World Weather Watch and Meteorological Service to

Agriculture Weather Forecasts for Agriculture Collaboration with Other International Agencies

- UNEP Unesco

- The FAO/Unesco/UNDP/WMO Inter-agency Group on Agricultural Biometeorology

- The International Biological Programme - The International Society of Biometeorology

Revision to the Guide to Agrometeorological Practices Advisory Working Group Rapporteurs

- The Fourth President, Dr. W. Baier: 1971-1979 - Food Production in Developing Countries - Drought and Agriculture - The Economic Benefits of Agrometeorological Services - Forest Meteorology - Symposia and Training Seminars

l V

51

PAGE

THIRD PERIOD <l974-l990)

- Development of Agrometeorological Services - Technology Transfer

- Seminars, symposia and training workshops - Crop and Weather Relationship Studies

- Task Force on Crop-Weather Models - Crop-weather models - An Institute for Global Crop-weather

Experiments - Meteorological Observations and data

- CLIMAT messages - WWW facilities

The standardization of instruments and observational methods

- Meteorological Services to Agriculture - The economic benefit of agrometeorological

services - Weather advisory services for agriculture - Medium and long-term weather forecasts

- Forest Meteorology - Application of Remote Sensing Techniques in

Agrometeorology - Handbook on Agrometeorology - World Climate Programme

- The Climate Applications Referral System - Food (CARS-Food)

- International Co-operation - The Inter-agency Group

FAO and WMO - The Arab Centre for Studies of Arid Zones and

Dry Lands (ACSAD) The International Society of Biometeorology The Organization for African Unity (OAU)

- SADCC Countries

The Fifth President, Mr. N. Gerbier: 1979-1985 - Back Ground Setting for CAgM-VIII - Inter-sessional Activities - Regional Activities

Regional Associations - Roving seminars - The AGRHYMET programme - A pilot project in Mali

South and East Africa - Countries around the Mediterranean

v

PAGE

- Objectives for the Next Inter-sessional Period - Operational agrometeorology - Future areas of activity

The role of agrometeorology in developed countries

- Revisions and Additions to the Guide - Additional Responsibilities of the President

- The Sixth President, Mr. A. Kassar: 1985-1990 - The Global Agricultural Scene at the time of CAgM-IX - Inter-sessional Activities Prior to CAgM-IX - New Considerations by CAgM-IX

- Meteorological services and the agricultural community

- Comprehensive bibliographies The History of Agrometeorology in the Context of CAgM

- The Long-term Plan - The main thrust for the tenth financial period - The main goal during the intersessional periods

between ninth and tenth sessions of CAgM

REFERENCES 75

ANNEXES ~

l. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9.

CAgM Who is Who ~ . CAgM Sessions ~ . Resolutions, Recommendations and Appointments Pertaining to CAgM . WMO Publications related to the Activities of CAgM . Proceedings of Seminars, Training Courses and Technical Conferences . Other unnumbered publications in Agrometeorology . Consultancies and Roving Seminars . Chronology . List of Abbreviations .

77 156

157 170

181 186 188 191 195

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FOREWORD

The Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has completed nearly four decades of work. At each of the nine sessions since 1953 emphasis has been laid on networks and observations, data collection, research, the transfer of technology, applications to operational agrometeorology and its economic benefits, appropriate studies have also been initiated. During its evolution, numerous experts and countries have contributed to its success . .It is, therefore, appropriate to bring out a report on the history of the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology.

The history of the evolution of CAgM is unique, because it is linked on the one hand to programmes of WMO and other UN organizations (e.g. FAO, UNEP, Unesco) and on the other hand to regional and national organizations active in agrometeorological research and services. WMO Regions and Member countries form the basis of the Commission and therefore the history of CAgM is linked to documentation of national and regional activities in agricultural meteorology.

At the ninth Session of CAgM held in Madrid, Spain, 17-28 November, 1986, the Commission acting on the proposal of an ad hoc working group considered the preparation of a report on the history of agricultural meteorology in the context of CAgM.

The Commission appointed a "Task Force on Historical Perspective of CAgM" with the following membership:

Dr W. Baier (Canada) Co-ordinator Dr I.G. Gringof (USSR) Member Dr N.D. Strommen (USA) Member

The Commission gave the Task Force the following instructions:

"To get the necessary input 'ma t e r i a l , the Task Force should work by correspondence. The Task Force should put the material together and ensure uniformity of presentation and style. Photographs, pictures, graphs and tables should be included as appropriate. The success of the publication will greatly depend on contacts with people and organizations involved. The publication should be made available for the tenth session of CAgM.

The Commission requested that the Secretary-General, if possible, make available the necessary funds for the publication of this report in the official languages of WMO.

Vl.l.

The Commission agreed that the History should e s s entially reflect only the activities of CAgM since its inception, but encouraged Members to prepare a "Hi story of Agricultural Meteorology" linked to international work and to the Comm i ss ions work f or individual Member countries. Such country reports would also serve as important references for the proposed work.

It gives me great pleasure to pay tr ibute to the excellent work accomplished by the members of the Task Force. This publication, I am confident, will be of immense use to agrometeorologists, agronomists, forest scientists and animal husbandry officials, to Members of WMO and i n t e r na t i o na l agricultural organizations and research institutes to know about the activities of CAgM past, present and future . Throughout the text the authors acknowledge the valuable assistance of a number o f individuals and especia lly the WMO Secretariat. To all of them I also extend grateful appreciation.

A. Kassar President of CAgM

Vlll

PREFACE

A general outline of the History prepared by Dr Baier, Co-ordinator of the Task Force, was circulated to members and agreement in principle obtained. Assignment of responsibilities for specific chapters was agreed upon by correspondence. As time progressed and the manuscript began to unfold it was found necessary to make minor changes in the presentation and arrangement of material by chapters. However, the main theme of the History as foreseen by the Commission and originally outlined by the Task Force has been retained.

The services of George W. Robertson were enlisted by the Chairman. He has had a great deal of experience with WMO, both with the Secretariat in Geneva and as a consultant and expert during sessions in agrometeorology in several developing countries within the Commission on its various committees and as rapporteur and member of working groups. Mr Robertson, compiled most of the material for the first four chapters of the History and Annexes from the Abridged Reports of the Commission, from WMO Bulletins and from reports supplied by the Secretariat.

Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the historical development of the Commission within the International Meteorological Organization (IMO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Chapter 2 looks at the early history and development of IMO and the Commission for Agricultural Meteorology. Chapter 3 deals with the transition of IMO to WMO, the formation of CAgM and its relationship to other technical bodies of WMO and to the regional and international Organizations. Chapter 4 forms the main body of the report. It describes the development of CAgM from the first to the ninth Session, primarily from the viewpoint of policy, plans and goals, including terms of reference, collaboration with other WMO bodies and with other national and international agencies.

Annex 1 entitled "CAgM Who is Who" pays tribute to the people who contributed to the progress of the Commission including WMO activities in agricultural meteorology. Dr Gringof supplied material concerning the activities of Socialist countries which has been worked into this chapter of the annex.

Other annexes contain lists of CAgM Sessions, resolutions and recommendations pertaining to CAgM, WMO publications related to the activities of CAgM, Proceedings of Seminars and Technical Conferences, Chronology of important IMO/WMO/CAgM events, Consultancies and Roving Seminars, and a list of abbreviations.

Wolfgang Baier Task Force Co-ordinator

lX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Members of the Task Force gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the WMO Secretariat, in particular, Mr V. Krishnamurthy, who searched the records at the Secretariat and provided a great deal of the historical material. Biographies and other comments from the President of CAgM, Mr A. Kassar and from past presidents, are also gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are due to Mr G.W. Robertson who assisted in compiling the material for the history and especially in preparing the Annex "CAgM Who is Who".

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