The first WCRP Meeting (online) of the Regional Focal Points (RFPs) for South America was held on 16^th October 2020, attended by 20 participants, including the Regional Focal Points designed by WCRP from the nominations of the core projects, the support team from the WCRP Joint Scientific Committee and Core activities, and the support team from the WCRP Secretariat and International Project Offices.

After the introduction of all the participants it was explained that CORDEX will be the primary support and CLIVAR the secondary support for this group, and they will provide the logistics necessary to organize the meetings, including the videoconference platform to be used, support in developing the data base of participants in the meetings, providing the invitations, preparing meeting reports, etc.

During this first meeting, the purpose of the WCRP Regional Consultations and the role of the WCRP Regional Focal Points, as well as the aim and design of the regional Virtual Town Halls (VTHs) was introduced by Helen Cleugh, vice chair of the WCRP JSC. Participants then focused on the discussion on the design and organisations of VTHs, some of the things that will need to be decided as next steps include:

• To decide the number of VTHs for the South American Region (by considering both geographic spread and specific domains) and the timelines for the VTHs;
• Besides science talks, the best practice on using science for decision making may also be included in the VTHs;
• Engage with key co-sponsors and partners;
• To consider having a registration system for the VTHs;
• To develop a contact database with the inputs from the RFPs;
• Logistic issues (registration system; videoconference platforms; other tools; host(s) of each VTH, and etc.) will be taken care by WCRP Secretariat and supporting IPOs;
• Background documents and guidance will be prepared prior to the VTHs to facilitate the effective discussion;
• RFPs will break into subgroups to help organise the VTHs.