As the south-west Pacific heads into its tropical cyclone season, and the tropical north Pacific prepare for their dry season, an urgent call to produce objective, user-relevant climate outlook guidance in real time to reduce climate-related risks, has been made.

The call comes from representatives of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) across the Pacific during the Ninth Pacific Islands Climate Outlook Forum (PICOF-9). 

The meeting is to equip participants to inform Pacific peoples of the looming tropical cyclone season and related extreme events, evaluate the accuracy of the forecasts in the past six months, and provide information on what will happen in the next six months. 

It is also an opportunity to build partnerships among NMHSs, regional organisations and relevant networks, and provide simple, easy to understand seasonal prediction information to the energy sector, which has been the chosen sector of focus for this PICOF. 

Addressing the PICOF on behalf of World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), Henry Taiki, WMO Representative for the South-West Pacific, acknowledged with appreciation the ongoing work of the Pacific NMHSs in keeping Pacific peoples informed in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic. 

“COVID 19 has brought us a lot of challenges but I’d like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the NMHSs and regional centres for continuing to provide the services that are required by our people around the Pacific. The 24-hour service you provide tirelessly during this pandemic is outstanding and very much appreciated,” Taiki said.

He also expressed WMO’s appreciation to SPREP, which has been a longstanding partner in the Pacific on which they rely to bring services of weather climate and hydrology to Pacific Island countries right down to the community level and helping them understand and develop responses where needed.

Speaking at his last PICOF as Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Kosi Latu, expressed his sincere gratitude to the Directors of the Pacific NMHSs for the excellent collaboration SPREP has received over the last six years during his tenure as Director General. 

“I applaud your dedication and effort to organise the fourth virtual PICOF since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The work must continue and information must be provided to keep our people informed and prepared during these unprecedented times,” said Latu.

“I acknowledge that you have chosen the Renewable Energy sector as your focus sector in this PICOF, and I applaud you for this. The Pacific is resolved through the National Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement to reduce its emissions to net zero by 2050. This will be achieved largely through greater investment in renewable energy, so I am pleased that you have reached out to, and that you are engaging them to be part of the Pacific solution.”

The PICOFs are organised through a collaborative partnership between SPREP and WMO, with technical support provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), the Pacific Community (SPC), Meteo France, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as members of the Pacific Regional Climate Network Node for Long-Range Forecasting, together with the Pacific Islands Climate Services Panel of the Pacific Meteorological Council.

This story was produced by Leanne, published at SPREP on 22 October 2021, reposted via PACNEWS.