Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson umhverfis- og auðlindaráðherra flutti eftirfarandi ávarp við undirritun aðildarsamnings Íslands að evrópsku veðurtunglastofnuninni EUMETSAT þann 30. ágúst 2013.

Dear friends,

I would just like to say a few words about this agreement and about our membership of EUMETSAT. This agreement is about science and satellites, about a partnership of nations to gather quality information about the environment, and to share the results and the data collected. It will be of great use to our Met Office, and to many agencies and scientists here in Iceland. I also know it will be of use to other EUMETSAT partners. It is important for us Icelanders, for our neighbours and to international aviation to monitor closely the weather in and around Iceland.  And not only the weather, but other natural hazards and environmental change in general, where satellite technology plays an important and growing role.

I hardly need to remind you here about the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, which halted aviation in Europe for weeks, and indeed had a worldwide impact. This eruption showed the need for us to improve knowledge and monitoring of ash clouds, which is a relatively young science. It also showed the general need for good monitoring of volcanoes and the atmosphere, to ensure public safety and minimize economic disruption. Satellites help us to get the big picture – quite literally – on these issues.

I know our scientists and experts are happy with this agreement, which gives them better tools to monitor and analyse the weather and the natural environment. But despite its technical subject matter, this is an important agreement for the general public, and deserves to be known as such. The weather plays a greater role in the lives of people here than in many other places. It is for many a question of safety and livelihood. The weather plays for example a big role in fisheries and agriculture. At this moment, farmers in North Iceland are working to get their sheep out of harm's way in highland pastures, to save them from a rare August blizzard. A similar early fall storm last year killed thousands of sheep. The lives of Icelanders are framed by the climate and weather, and we need a state-of-the-art system to give us the best available forecasts. Natural disasters of various kinds have dealt us heavy blows in the past, but new technologies are helping us to predict them and prepare for them. EUMETSAT will strengthen us in these tasks.

Lastly, I should mention that full membership of EUMETSAT, with its fleet of satellites, helps fulfil Iceland's ambition to become an active power in space.

That last part was perhaps not meant too seriously, but it is a good feeling to own a share in high-tech satellites that watch out from the heavens for storms and other threats. I think Iceland's accession to EUMETSAT benefits all parties. I want to thank those of you who worked on this agreement, and to wish EUMETSAT and the Met Office and other relevant parties good luck in your important work.

 
Thank you,