Private has the right to report weather

The government has a policy of breaking the monopoly of distributing weather forecast and hydrological news for nearly 10 years, but so far, no organization or individual is allowed outside the only agency, the Hydrometeorological Center. Center.

'Only with a permit issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, organizations and individuals are entitled to officially report weather forecasts, except for the forecast of tropical depressions, storms and floods' - Mr. Nguyen Trung Nhan - Director of Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) said. Mr. Nhan also read the specific list of procedures required for the application form and permit form.

That means accepting a monopoly in weather forecasting. Mr. Nhan said, having more units participating in the weather forecast will make more forecasting information. But 'We have not received any applications' - Mr. Nhan asserted - ' We send documents everywhere. Upload it online '.

Ngong's relative returned from the storm Chanchu
(Photo: TTO, VNN)

Among the unofficial weather forecasting networks, notably the RAM model of the Department of Hydrometeorology - Oceanography (University of Natural Sciences - Hanoi National University has the address http:// /thoitietbien.com or www.rams-vnu.org ).

We can also mention the website http://www.vnbaolut.com by Dr. Tran Tien Khanh, Vietnamese overseas Vietnamese, who regularly provides forecast information, focusing on forecasting and warning of floods and storms. in Vietnam.

'They do not register, how can we license it' - Mr. Nhan said.

Is there a text?

GS. Dr. Tran Tan Tien, Chairman of the Department of Meteorology, Hydrology and Oceanography, was surprised to find out that there are documents regulating that organizations and individuals are allowed to register for official reports of weather forecasts.

'Do not know the specific conditions but I think it is difficult' - Professor Tien wondered - "In order to get high and reliable news reports, there must be facilities and technical infrastructure such as machinery, good monitoring station system. Whether we have been invested by the State or allowed to participate in the exploitation of infrastructure of hydrometeorology '.

Prof. Tien said that socializing the weather forecast is the right direction and the competition always helps to improve the quality of products, specifically the forecast news.

At the recent bidding to provide weather forecasts for the petroleum industry in Vung Tau just recently, the victory belongs to a southern unit of hydrometeorology compared to the other two partners.

'They are orthodox, are part of the only legally recognized organization in Vietnam, it is understandable for them to win' - said a representative of a party participating in the bidding.

Difficult to do

There are suggestions that the conditions for registering for weather forecasting are specific but difficult to implement. Quantifying the three conditions including organizational structure, information network and human resources is not yet available.

Mr. Nhan said hydrometeorology had 500 observation stations across the country and in the near future there were 740 stations. He wanted to say that organizations and individuals who want to be licensed at least must have a monitoring network to 'compete' with the other network.

Asked whether the existing network can be shared and shared with partners like the telecommunications infrastructure in the postal industry, Mr. Nhan said that this has not been taken into account.

It seems that realizing that policy still has a long way, but it cannot be done. Unable to let the status of weather information page http://thoitietbien.com , one of the products of the State-level research topic worth 2.5 billion VND, is just a reference site.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, after taking over the products, has yet to see the transfer of hydro-meteorology to officially put it into use.

The people who created the product, because of regret, took their own money to nurture it. Every day there is a power outage that interrupts the online forecast.

Their newsletters, on the basis of modern technology, are bought by the subject's money, capable of long-term forecast, weekly, monthly, time-consuming, and detailed to each commune and ward in space. . They used to forecast the successful weather for the 22nd Sea Games, helped Kinh Do Confectionery Company forecast for two months to produce and sell Mid-Autumn confectionery in each specific location .

Socialization of forecasting must accompany specific policies along with increasing investment for individuals and organizations in need, creating equality in accessing and using background information from hundreds of stations. Existing survey is built by the State budget.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Nhan - Director of Department of Meteorology & Hydrology: Some countries have allowed private sale of weather news.I personally know that Australia, England, USA, New Zealand .

What will happen if the next newsletter of the Central Hydrometeorological Agency is published?Who will people believe, especially when natural disasters like storms and floods occur?

In fact, there will be no such situation.The official newsletter broadcast on the mass media is still the hydrometeorology industry.However, the hydro-meteorological newsletter can then be a convergence of authorized organizations and individuals.In addition, when organizations and individuals are allowed to sell regional and regional forecast news to a partner with specific needs such as oil and gas exploration industry .

QUOC DUNG