09 August 2023, Nadi Fiji - Pacific countries have applauded the work of the Climate and Oceans Support Programme in the Pacific (COSPPac) to help different communities interpret climate, oceans and tidal data to produce valuable and relevant life-changing climate services.
The countries offered the endorsement during the COSPPac Phase 2 (COSPPac2) Annual Steering Committee Meeting at the Novotel Hotel in Nadi on Wednesday, where members of the Committee reviewed the progress of Phase 2 and looked at the overview of COSPPac Phase 3.
The Acting Director of Fiji Meteorology, Mr Bipen Prakash, said the impact of COSPPac in Fiji must be acknowledged. “There are many highlights and we are very grateful as a nation for the project,” he said. “The communications aspect of the COSPPac2 project has really improved our engagement with our communities and our partners and it’s one of the highlights for us. As we review Phase 2, this is something we want to continue to build upon in COSPPac3.”
Funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and New Zealand Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, it is implemented by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP ), Geoscience Australia (GA), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Pacific Community (SPC). COSPPac works with Pacific countries on projects that provide information for Pacific communities to prepare for, and mitigate the impacts of severe climate, and oceanographic events.
The Director of Solomon Islands Meteorological Services, Mr David Hiba Hiriasia said his country appreciates the focus on capacity building. “The work to develop our people’s ability and skills to address the challenges before us has been excellent. This work has helped different sectors manage these challenges and in return makes a difference in the lives of the communities we are here to serve,” he said.
For a small island nation like Kiribati, COSPPac has had a positive impact on the work of the Met Service.
“The project has really enabled small Met Services like Kiribati to be able to provide relatable and accurate weather information for our communities,” said the Director of Kiribati Met Service, Mr Ueneta Toorua. “Our people are able to get a lot more help from their Met Service Office which is something we want to build upon as we look to the next stage.”
COSPPac works with stakeholders in the Pacific to build tools that can forecast and report on climate, tides and the ocean. It also works with them to determine how best to communicate this information to communities, businesses and Governments.
The Director of the Cook Islands Met Service, Mr Arona Ngari said the Cook Islands is known for producing black pearls. He pointed to a case study that was produced with COSSPac support, which he said provide them with great information to address the challenges around black pearl farming for the next 20 to 30 years.
“This is one of the many highlights for us,” he said.
For the Kingdom of Tonga, Director of Tonga’s Met Service, Mr Ofa Fa’anunu, highlighted the work to collect and manage data. He reserved special praise for incorporating traditional knowledge in the work, saying: “It is very important that we measure and manage the data well. Traditional knowledge is also a very important part of the COSPPac work for Tonga. We’re now moving into impact-based forecasting and traditional knowledge is a very important part of that.”
The COSPPac2 Steering Committee Meeting, co-chaired by Ms Katherine Berryman, of the Australia DFAT, and Mr Mike Brewer, of New Zealand MFAT, is one of related meetings being held in Nadi ahead of the sixth Meeting of the Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC-6), the first Development Partners and Donors Engagement Meeting (DPDEM-1) and the third Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Meteorology (PMMM-3) from 14 – 18 August 2023 at Denarau, Fiji.
“As you all know climate change is the single greatest existential threat facing our region. There is a significant interest in the climate change space from the Australian Government and COSPPac is one of our key instruments for enabling climate change adaptation in the Pacific,” said Ms Berryman.
Co-Chair Mr Mike Brewer said the Steering Committee meeting was an important opportunity to assess the progress made, learn from the experiences of all the countries during COSPPac Phase 2, and build towards the future.
“You are all knowledge brokers for your communities and today, Katie and I are knowledge brokers to take what you need back to our leaders, so that we can continue to support these programmes. COSPPac3 is going to be a lot of work but we are all on this journey together,” Mr Brewer said.
COSPPac was preceded by the Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Project (PICPP), which ran from 2003 to 2012. For the next four years, COSPPac3 hopes to deliver on infrastructure, products and services, communications, capacity development and governance.
SPREP’s Director of Climate Change Resilience, Ms Tagaloa Cooper, acknowledged the Government of Australia and the Government of New Zealand for their support.
“SPREP is proud of this project but personally it is the traditional knowledge aspect that is a highlight for me because that has allowed our people, our village communities in the Pacific Ocean to share and align their knowledge with what the science is telling us about climate change and I’m looking forward to what COSPPac3 has in store to continue to help our people,” she said.
The next COSPPac Steering Committee Meeting will be held in the Solomon Islands.
To find out more about COSPPac, visit: http://cosppac.bom.gov.au or https://www.sprep.org/project/climate-and-oceans-support-program-pacific