• Brain-drain and lengthy training at fault
• Meteorology DG A.K. Karunanayake notes lack of human and monetary resources
• Highlights lack of legal and policy support, and low level of awareness as factors affecting the sector 

The Department of Meteorology, last week (4 October), celebrated its 75th anniversary, as an institution that has rendered an immense service to the country in many areas that is not limited to issuing weather forecasts. During the past few decades, it has supported many other institutions and areas to plan their operations, especially economically, which should receive national-level attention. However, despite the extent of its national-level contribution, the Department is yet to receive adequate attention and support. 

Noting this, the Director General of the Department A.K. Karunanayake pointed out that in Sri Lanka, weather forecasting and related activities need to be improved urgently. The main issues faced by the Department and the sector are the lack of human and monetary resources. On the one hand, the number of persons willing to enter this field is limited and training them takes a considerable period of time, while on the other hand, awareness about the importance of weather and climate and their practical uses is considerably low. He made these remarks during an interview with The Daily Morning, where he stressed on the importance of legal and policy support as well.

The excerpts of the interview are as follows:

This Department is one of the public institutions that provide a very specific and extremely crucial service. However, the general public hears very little about the Department’s services and almost all that we hear is weather forecasts. What are the main functions of the institution?

I agree that many people are under the impression that the Department is only supposed to issue weather forecasts or that it has no role in any other affairs of the country. But, that is an erroneous understanding. While issuing weather forecasts is the most visible activity carried out by the Department, in addition to that, it provides data needed for many other sectors and activities, and is working closely with a number of public institutions. What we do generally is provide these stakeholders with the data required to carry out their activities. When they require data, we provide that data, and they make their own institutional-level decisions based solely or partially on the data that we provide.

You mentioned that the Department is working closely with various stakeholders including public institutions. How does the Department work with them when it comes to matters that have an impact on the country’s day-to-day affairs?

Among other sectors, the Department primarily provides weather forecasts and the related warnings and guidelines to institutions and officials connected to the Departments of Agriculture and Irrigation, the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), the Airport and Aviation Services, and to disaster management-related activities including the issuing of tsunami warnings. These forecasts are based on the data provided by the Department’s main office in Colombo along with other offices located in various parts of Sri Lanka, and other institutions in the Asian region that are engaged in meteorology-related services and research. 

For example, the services provided to the Airport and Aviation Services are generally provided to the Katunayake, Ratmalana, and Mattala Airports, and these services play an extremely important role in airport-related activities. The services provided to agriculture-related institutions, particularly the Department of Agriculture, help those institutions to plan farming-related activities. In addition, we work closely with the media in order to ensure that information about weather forecasts reach the relevant parties, which predominantly includes the general public. 

However, it should be noted that when it comes to using weather forecasts for the country’s benefits, what we can do is limited. The relevant institutions have a massive responsibility to use the given data effectively and make the necessary decisions in a practical and timely manner. 

How is the Department’s partnership with international organisations?

We are connected with, and are working regularly with international entities, mainly with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). It is important to note that when gathering and analysing weather and climate-related data, it is not adequate to base our weather-related findings, especially forecasts, solely on the data that we can gather from Sri Lanka. We need to take into account the global situation, especially the weather situation of the surrounding countries. It is the WMO that helps countries with gathering, exchanging, and analysing such data. 

At present, around 193 countries throughout the world are connected with the WMO. It is this organisation that supports developing countries, especially when it comes to providing weather analysis-related training, and setting standards for those countries and regions. The immediate station of the WMO to which Sri Lanka and the Maldives are connected to is located in New Delhi, India, and that station gathers and analyses important global and regional data. In addition, the Department works in collaboration with several international entities that provide Sri Lanka with various forms of support and partnerships, especially when it comes to improving our activities at the domestic level. The World Bank (WB) is one such entity.    

What are the challenges faced by the Department?

The Department is facing a number of challenges. Most of them are related to human and monetary resources, and we have paid attention to finding solutions to those issues. One of the major challenges that we are facing is caused by recent circulars that limit public sector recruitments and allow public sector employees to obtain foreign leave up to five years. Owing to the present socio-economic situation in Sri Lanka, many trained officials have sought to leave the Department either temporarily or permanently. 

Generally, when recruiting employees, we choose those who have studied physics and mathematics, because that is the type of knowledge that this line of work requires. Through the WMO, we even provide scholarships for the employees to study meteorology. Unfortunately, it is those who have studied in that manner that choose to leave the country. Many who were in the Department have already left the job, and it has resulted in a massive impact on the Department. Some retire as well. Finding a solution to this issue is difficult because we cannot hire people based on how many employees we think will retire or leave in the future.

The fact that we have to train every newcomer for at least two before sending them for field work makes this situation more challenging. On the one hand, we lose employees rapidly, and on the other hand, replacing them takes years of training and has to wait until existing employees actually leave the institution.

There is another shortage which relates to the technology-related aspect of this field, which needs to be improved. We are currently working with the WB to modernise the Department with globally-accepted, new, and updated knowledge. Our request to them was that we be introduced to methods used in developed countries. Even though this process is currently underway, this might take time, perhaps until 2026. If these efforts materialise properly, that would be a huge victory for us. This was delayed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. There is a pressing need to adopt international practices to improve our work. It is to achieve this that we have paid attention to the said modernisation project. 

For example, when we analyse data, we analyse those separately (based on the data received from different sources) and then we issue the weather forecast. In developed countries, there are data integration systems that help to take into account the data received from multiple sources on which the weather forecast depends. If we too adopt such systems, we would be in a position to issue weather forecasts with greater accuracy. We intend to do that through the WB support. Since we are in need of external support to adopt this integration system, this requires external support, perhaps the support of an institution that has done the same in developed countries. In fact, many countries are advancing in that direction.

In your opinion, in addition to the resources, what are the legal and policy-level support that the Department is in need of?

Regardless of how old our institution is, there is no Act to govern it. In this regard, incumbent State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, has already held discussions with us to introduce an Act for the Department. If these efforts materialise, we would be able to pass an Act, so that the Department would be in a position to make many important decisions. What is more, I think that the economic value of the services provided by the Department needs to receive the due value and recognition. For example, we assist the airports and aviation sector, which generates a considerable income for the country. However, these services are provided for free. I am not saying that the Department needs to get paid through such services. But, the economic value of the services needs to be used to improve the institution.

As you mentioned, when it comes to meteorology, there is no adequate education or research-related initiatives in the country. What do you think should be done to deal with this situation?

Raising awareness and research are necessary when it comes to educating the public and other relevant or interested parties about meteorology. While the Department can act as a resource person in these programmes, for the time being, the monetary provisions that have been provided to the Department by the Government for the same are not sufficient. We need more money to do that. We are currently managing these activities with the available resources, and we have commenced several awareness programmes. 

Certain other organisations, whose support has helped us raise awareness in Sri Lanka, have also come forward to assist us. However, this support is not adequate when compared with the national-level need. It would be extremely beneficial if we could hold such programmes more frequently. As far as research is concerned, the lack of human resources has affected us in this regard too. If we could get more people to support us, we would be able to go beyond mere climate projections or seasonal forecasts, which we are doing at present. At the same time, I think that setting up a training centre on meteorology is necessary. In fact, the Department can even make money through such an initiative.