Weathernews Inc. (Chiba, Japan; CEO: Chihito Kusabiraki) participated for the first time in the 2017 APEC Climate Symposium held in Can Tho, Vietnam to discuss interdisciplinary approaches for sustainable food security using climate information from August 18 until August 20, and gave a presentation on the current state of natural disasters that are on an increasing trend due to recent climate change, and strategic risk management for agriculture, dams and rivers utilizing weather information. Weathernews was invited to attend due to its cooperative relationship with the National Hydro-Meteorological Service of Vietnam, and spoke about weather services useful for farming and the deployment of a proprietary observation infrastructure in its presentation, which was well received. Furthermore, Weathernews was the only private weather company to participate in the 2017 APEC Climate Symposium, resulting in recognition of the effectiveness of not only governments and research institutions, but also private weather companies working together. Weathernews will continue to actively participate in consideration and efforts aimed at climate change and weather risk management on a global level in the future.

Presentation at the 2017 APEC Climate Symposium

In January 2015, Weathernews and the National Hydro-Meteorological Service of Vietnam formed a cooperative relationship in weather risk management, and participated to specifically implement weather services in Vietnam. The presentation was entitled “Weather Risk Management - What WNI Can Do for Your Country -” and discussed the current state of natural disasters, the importance of weather risk management for agriculture, dams and rivers utilizing weather information, and the deployment of a proprietary observation infrastructure in Asia.

During the question and answer session, there was a lively discussion about content for farmers using high-definition weather analysis and the usage thereof. The audience also showed support for the deployment of an observation infrastructure by Weathernews as a measure to address climate change, and the symposium suggested that there is a high level of expectation in such efforts.

Comment from Mitsuhiro Ogata, Executive Officer, Sales of Environment Services, Weathernews

“In order to respond to recent global climate change and natural disasters, it is not sufficient to plan according to the calendar as in the past, and we believe it is important to utilize big data for weather and new analytical technology to conduct strategic management in response to climate change. However, there is little observation data on emerging countries in Asia, and an observation infrastructure needs to be installed to conduct such management. We have developed the “EAGLE Radar” which is a unique new type of multi-beam radar for three-dimensional observation of the development of rain clouds, and are moving forward with mass production to install the system in emerging countries in Asia. Many people have shown their support at this symposium, and we have confirmed that we are moving in the right direction. We would like to continue moving forward with everyone's cooperation. ”

2017 APEC Climate Symposium

The APEC Climate Symposium is held every year in the APEC host country to provide a place for national governments and weather organizations to participate and hold discussions with the aim of bridging the gaps in the latest climate science and policies that have arisen between developed countries and developing countries. The symposium was chaired by Vietnam this year, and around 130 people including personnel from government institutions, weather organizations and other experts gathered from 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and discussed topics such as the current state of climate change and measures to address this based on the theme of Building Resilient Agro-Food Systems from Production to Consumption.

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