The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) has appointed physicist Osvaldo Moraes to head the Climate and Sustainability Section of the Secretariat for Strategic Policies and Programs. With the nomination published in ed Official Gazette for Wednesday (19).Moraes is automatically absolved of the position of director of the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Warning (Cimaden), which he has held for the past eight years.

Moraes will advance MCTI’s work on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events and structure a plan to improve disaster prevention and warning tools.

FPhysicist and doctor Moraes received his PhD in Physics from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences Research at the State University of New York in the United States. He is a professor at the Federal University of Santa María (UFSM) and throughout his career he has held the positions of Director of Policy and Thematic Programs at MCTI, Coordinator of the Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies at INPE and Scientific Director of the Fundação de Support for Research in Rio Grande do Sul.

Currently, Moraes also coordinates the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Standing Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, and is a member of the Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for the Americas and the Caribbean, of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.