Weather laws typically address the establishment and operation of a national meteorological service (NMS), which is usually granted the exclusive right to issue weather warnings as well as to address issues such as weather modification, liability for incorrect weather forecasts, weather observation, and the importation and placing on the market of meteorological equipment. Moreover, some weather laws go further and establish a legal framework for a range of public and private actors, collectively known as the Global Weather Enterprise (GWE). Besides the NMS, the enterprise includes academia, research funding bodies, equipment manufacturers, and a growing number of commercial weather service providers. A big problem for many low- and middle-income countries is the underfunding of the NMS - which, in turn, affects its ability to collect the basic observation data needed for weather service provision. Using a weather law to set up the NMS as an independent legal entity may enable it to generate additional income from the provision of commercial weather services, although the core public tasks of an NMS will always require public funding. This report breaks new ground by surveying the existing national weather laws and by asking whether the main obstacle to better public-private engagement the absence or the presence of a national weather law is. A key finding is that weather laws alone will usually not be sufficient to promote effective public-private engagement. Just as important are the intellectual property rights (IPRs) in data generated and held by the NMS (usually copyright and database rights) and the extent to which the data policy of the NMS permits the use and re-use of publicly funded weather data by commercial weather service providers.
Authors
Related Organizations
- Citation
- “ Hodgson, Stephen . 2024 . Weather, Law, and Public-Private Engagement . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41937 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Other ESW Reports
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1596/41937
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34341984
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34341984
- Pages
- 82
- Published in
- United States of America
- Region country
- World
- Report
- 191303
- Rights
- CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/igo
- UNIT
- Disaster Climate Risk Management (GFDRR)
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41937
- date disclosure
- 2024-06-17
- theme
- Disaster Risk Management,Disaster Preparedness,Disaster Risk Reduction,Environment and Natural Resource Management,Climate change,Urban and Rural Development,Adaptation
