Addressing the gathering, Y E A Raj, deputy director general of meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, pointed out that the theme of World Meteorological Day-2014 was ‘Weather and Climate —Engaging the youth’. The population of people between the ages of 15 and 24 comprised one-sixth (100 crore) of the world’s population and about 85 per cent of them lived in developing countries. In India, 18.4 per cent of its population belonged to this category. Hence, the enlightenment of youth on climate change issues and its various aspects was crucial, he said.

The RMC deputy chief said the present day youth might not be fully aware of the gravity of the climate change scenario or could take the perpetual availability of various forms of energy such as petroleum, coal and electricity for granted. “Enlightening them about the way power is generated and its cost to the environment is an important task.”

Added to that is the task of engaging the youth in finding solutions for climatic change and global warming that could be beneficial to mankind. “Young people have always been the source of innovation and provide fresh insight into problems and their solutions...The task of developing alternative sources of energy needs innovative ideas, which we can expect from the younger generation.”

He hoped that the youth, who prepare for a career in meteorology, hydrology, climate science or atmospheric science, would be able to play an increasingly important role. “Monitoring of weather and climate, climatic change studies including climate modeling, forecasting based on numerical weather prediction models – all these need a vast amount of data processing, computer skills and communication technology. These can be learnt easily by youngsters,” Raj added.

D Narayana Rao, director (Research), SRM University, who delivered the keynote address, and R Janathan, head, Department of Geography, University of Madras, also stressed the need to engage youngsters in finding solutions to problems relating to climate change.