The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) appointed a Scientific Officer of the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), Ms. C.C. Lam, as a consultant to the Public Weather Services (PWS) Program in February 2006. This reflects the international recognition of the Observatory's achievements in PWS.

Ms. Lam attached to the WMO Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, for a month to prepare draft WMO guidelines on capacity building strategies in PWS. The purpose of the guidelines is to summarize essential information and experience that is needed to enable national meteorological and hydrological services to ensure that their national communities will receive the highest standard of PWS given the available resources and the contemporary state of science and technology.

Ms. Lam will subsequently participate in a WMO task force meeting on social and economic applications of PWS in the WMO Secretariat in May, putting heads together with the experts in the application of weather, water and climate services from different parts of the world. The outcome of the meeting is to develop an action plan to bridge the gap between national providers of weather, water and climate information and the users of these products and services. The results of discussions will also be incorporated into the WMO guidelines on capacity building strategies in PWS.

Being the first Scientific Officer to spend as much as a month at WMO Secretariat as a consultant, Ms. Lam said "I am honoured to have this opportunity to contribute to the worldwide effort toward excellence in PWS. It was a challenging task indeed. I valued very much the international experience gained from this mission and would transform it into tangible outputs in my future work."

The HKO spares no effort in translating scientific advances to weather forecast and warning services to protect people's lives and property as well as the well-being of the society of Hong Kong. The HKO is also renowned for its outreach activities in promoting public awareness and preparedness of natural disasters.