The Ministry of the Environment has presented the report of the CLIVAR-Spain thematic network and the Coordinated Programme for the Generation of Regionalised Climate Scenarios, two initiatives related to research and development activities on climate and climate change in Spain.

The report of the CLIVAR-Spain thematic network makes an analysis and diagnosis of the situation of knowledge, the scientific level and the quality of climate research in our country, and presents a series of proposals aimed at public administrations and responsible bodies to improve Spanish research capacity in this field.

CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability) is a project of the World Meteorological Organization’s World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), essential to advance knowledge of climate and its changes. For its part, the Coordinated Program for the Generation of Regionalized Climate Scenarios is part of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change, recently approved by the Commission on Climate Change Policies and of which the Council of Ministers took cognizance on October 6. The fundamental objective of this Programme is the establishment of a scheme of principle and methodology that allows the generation, in a coordinated and consensual manner, of regionalised climate change scenarios, which in turn are endorsed by the Spanish scientific community.

The Coordinated Program for the Generation of Regionalized Climate Scenarios has a vocation for continuity, since these scenarios must be reviewed periodically. It will be coordinated by the National Institute of Meteorology which, as part of the Ministry of the Environment, will play a central role with the whole of the Spanish research community directly involved in this problem, in order to optimize all efforts and resources and avoid duplication.