Saulo, a WMO vice-president who has headed Argentina's weather service since 2014, won a landslide vote at the UN climate and weather agency's congress in Geneva.
"My ambition is to lead the WMO towards a scenario in which the voice of all members is heard equally, prioritising those most vulnerable and in which the actions it undertakes are aligned with the needs and particularities of each one of them." It relies on satellites and thousands of weather stations to measure key parameters of the atmosphere, land and ocean.The leadership election was held on the penultimate day of the World Meteorological Congress, the general assembly of WMO's 193 member states and territories, which takes place every four years.
It also approved a new initiative aimed at boosting global greenhouse gas monitoring through an integrated system of space- and surface-based observations. Saulo, the director of the Argentinian National Meteorological Service, won the required two-thirds majority on the first ballot with 108 votes. Her closest competitor, Zhang, received 37, a diplomatic source said.The newly elected director-general of the International Organization for Migration has made 21st-century drivers of migration, such as climate change, the focus of her leadership.