Climate change and the need for environmental protection are global problems\r\nand call for a knowledgeable response from all countries in order to be effectively\r\naddressed. In recognition of this, the ten-year plan (1996–2005) of the Education\r\nand Training Programme (ETRP) of the World Meteorological Organization\r\n(WMO) places a high priority on enhancing a global system approach in its\r\neducation and training work in member countries, particularly in developing\r\ncountries. The plan states that personnel will need to have available an integrated\r\ntraining programme for understanding the ocean-land-atmosphere system,\r\nwhether for monitoring purposes under the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW),\r\nfor learning about physical concepts and understanding patterns, or for prediction of tomorrow’s weather and long-term climate changes.\r\nConsiderable attention has been given to climate change by the scientific\r\ncommunity, government bodies and the public media. However, many issues are\r\nnot fully understood. It is important that the professional operational community\r\nof meteorologists, hydrologists, and oceanographers become more knowledgeable\r\non this subject in order to be able to respond to the needs to monitor climate\r\nchange, to incorporate climate change perspectives into their own work, to help\r\ngoverning bodies to understand the scientific issues, and to provide information\r\nto the general public.