The 2025 Asia-Pacific Climate Services Workshop is underway June 11-13 in Taipei City, highlighting government commitment to fostering international collaboration to counter climate challenges.
Organized by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Central Weather Administration, the event welcomes meteorologists and artificial intelligence experts from countries including Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, the U.K. and the U.S. It echoes the U.N.’s Early Warnings for All initiative and focuses on ways to apply AI technology to enhance meteorological data efficiency and accelerate disaster decision-making processes.
Lu Kuo-chen, head of the CWA, said in opening remarks that his agency has incorporated AI technology into its forecasts since 2023, citing its successful prediction of typhoon track and heavy rain warnings when Typhoon Gaemi hit Taiwan last year. The CWA is also working with researchers and staff at Nvidia Corp. to develop an AI model for the country, he noted, adding that the administration is committed to expanding cross-disciplinary cooperation and enhancing access and accuracy of weather information for all.
Highlights from the event to date include keynote speeches by Vice Economic Minister Lai Chien-hsin and Eiichi Nakakita, professor emeritus at Kyoto University in Japan. The former discussed applications of real-time meteorological information in risk management for flood and drought, while the latter shared Japan’s experiences with early detection of rain cells and risk projection for urban flash floods.
The workshop’s four sessions will cover a broad array of topics from experts, among them Lo Min-hui from National Taiwan University in Taipei, who will speak about teaching and conducting research on climate change and sustainability, and Liz Bentley, president of Berlin-based Europe Meteorological Society, who will provide participants an overview of relevant development strategies in the EU and U.K. (YCH-E)
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