Guidance on Integrated Urban Hydrometeorological, Climate and Environmental Services - Volume I: Concept and Methodology

Migration to cities creates densely populated environments and associated infrastructure. This results in increasing vulnerabilities and exposure to natural and anthropogenic hazards. In 2015, under Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations identified “sustainable cities and communities” as one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This Guidance serves to assist in the achievement of this goal. Advances in high resolution (space and time) observation and prediction are permitting the development of Integrated Urban Hydrometeorological, Climate and Environmental Services to meet the needs and requirements of cities. Although such services are early in development and sometimes are lacking full capability, in many cases they already cover issues from provision of multi hazard early warnings (for example, for severe weather, flooding, air quality and health) to advices on urban design, planning and zoning that require commensurate microclimate information on the city block scale. Urban services are usually within the mandate of city governments but require some information from regional and national scales. The provision and application of hydrometeorological, climate and environment urban services are within the capability and capacity of many National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs). Owing to co dependencies, delivery of effective and efficient urban services requires integration, cooperation and collaboration among different scientific disciplines, urban professions, various levels of government, the public and the private sector.