Deepening International Cooperation on Sand and Dust Storms to Serve Early Warnings for All: 12th SDS-WAS Asian Regional Steering Group Meeting & International Workshop

Deepening International Cooperation on Sand and Dust Storms to Serve Early Warnings for All: 12th SDS-WAS Asian Regional Steering Group Meeting & International Workshop

Gyeongju, Republic of Korea | 16–17 September 2026

The 12th Meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System (SDS-WAS) Asian Regional Steering Group (RSG), held alongside the International Workshop on Sand and Dust Storm Early Warning, successfully convened in Gyeongju, Republic of Korea, from 16 to 17 September 2026.

Key Participants

Hosted by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the meeting brought together representatives from meteorological agencies, research institutes, and universities across Asian member states, including China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, India, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, as well as senior experts from the WMO Secretariat and the SDS-WAS Global Steering Committee.

During the opening ceremony, compelling keynote addresses were delivered by Sara Basart (WMO Secretariat), Sangbaek Kim (KMA), Yaqiang Wang (Chair of the SDS-WAS Asian RSG), Daniel Tong (Chair of the WMO SDS-WAS Global Steering Committee), and Takashi Maki (Former Chair). The speakers commended the solidarity, pragmatic approach, and outstanding achievements of the WMO SDS-WAS Asian region in advancing regional early warning capabilities.

Core Agenda and Highlights

The agenda featured in-depth discussions on cutting-edge topics, encompassing the application of Sand and Dust storm observation data, dust emission processes, satellite remote sensing, data assimilation, and the continuous development of numerical forecasting models.

Detailed presentations were provided by member states regarding their latest progress in both Sand and Dust storm research and operational forecasting, and discussed further advancing the development and operational implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based dust forecasting models. Furthermore, the meeting held in-depth discussions on cross-border data sharing, optimization of the Common Portal of the Sand and Dust storm Regional Centre, and performance verification of numerical Sand and Dust storm forecasting models.

Significance of the Meeting

The meeting demonstrated the efforts and achievements of the WMO SDS-WAS regional node in implementing the United Nations "Early Warnings for All" initiative. Through strengthened regional cooperation, it made significant contributions to disaster risk reduction across Asia. The successful convening of the meeting further highlighted the operational efficiency and strong cohesion of the Asian Regional Steering Group under the WMO framework.