Tonga launched a Weather Radar during the Fifty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting now underway. The Radar is the first deliverable of the Weather Ready Pacific in our Pacific region, it aims to save lives while building a resilient Pacific through enhanced Met Services forecasts and warnings. The milestone event is one of many ahead on the path of the Weather Ready Pacific Decadal Program of Investment.
Designed by Pacific Island Met Directors and endorsed by the Pacific Leaders the Weather Ready Pacific program will strengthen Meteorological Services across our Pacific Islands, contributing to the UN Early Warnings for All initiative. Having raised almost USD40 million with Australia and New Zealand committing financial support to catalyse the initiative, other partners are also coming to the table through a collective partnership approach. While commendable, this falls short of the USD 191 Million needed to implement the WRP.
The Tonga Weather Radar was launched by the UN Secretariat General Mr António Guterres, along with Rt. Hon Winston Peters Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, Hon Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu Tonga’s Minister for Meteorology, Disaster Management, Environment, and Climate Change and Mr Sefanaia Nawadra Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
“We congratulate Tonga on this historical event today, one that cements the role of the Weather Ready Pacific program that was designed by our Pacific Met Directors and is now led by them,” said Mr Nawadra. SPREP is the Secretariat of the Pacific Met Desk Partnership and the Pacific Meteorological Council.
“This collective approach by our regional stakeholders is also reflected in the partnership support of many who are coming together to save Pacific lives through the many different actions identified through the Weather Ready Pacific.”
Tonga’s new weather radar located at Fua’amotu International Airport on Tongatapu will help Tonga Met Service warn local communities of incoming severe weather so they can be weather ready. The cutting-edge radar technology provides detailed information on location and intensity of rainfall, thunderstorms, and tropical cyclones that affect Tonga.
This information will enhance weather forecasts and improve the Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems and the response of Tonga. This is critical to effective disaster risk reduction, risk-informed decision making and planning in all sectors and supporting the livelihood of the people of Tonga.
The radar imagery will be available on Tonga Met Service website and the new Tonga Mobile Application for Community Early Warning and Response System (MACRES) - so people can see if rain is coming and how intense it will be - enabling them to plan and prepare.
This new development for Tonga is one of many activities planned under the Weather Ready Pacific across the Pacific Islands region.
“We look forward to further developments ahead for our Pacific Islands people through the Weather Ready Pacific a demonstration of our Pacific working together to save lives,” said Mr Nawadra.
The Tonga Weather Radar was funded by the Government of New Zealand as part of their financial support for the Weather Ready Pacific Program.
The Weather Ready Pacific is an initiative through the Pacific Meteorological Council and was endorsed by Pacific Islands leaders in 2021. In 2023, the decadal program of investment was listed as a partnership of priority under the Pacific Partnerships for Prosperity initiative endorsed at the Fifty-Second Pacific Islands Leaders Forum in the Cook Islands.
The launch of the Tonga Weather Radar was held on 26 August 2024 during the Fifty-Third Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting hosted in the Kingdom of Tonga.