Journalists from across the region are coming together in Tonga before the Pacific Meteorological Council for training to strengthen reporting on weather and climate information.
The role of the Meteorological Services is growing significantly in national decision making processes and will continue to do so as the impacts of climate change include extreme weather events.
A range of activities implemented across the region through the Pacific Met Desk based at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) are helping to grow the capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in line with growing demand of their service.
"The need to learn more about climate and weather services along with climate change and disaster risk management has been identified by Pacific media workers and this is just one way that we can help our reporters understand more," said Ms. Nanette Woonton, the Media and Public Relations Officer of SPREP.
"The more our Pacific media understand, the better the media reports in these areas which will lead to more informed Pacific communities. "
The media training is a partnership between the Finland Pacific Project (FINPAC) to help reduce the vulnerability of Pacific communities to the impacts of Climate Change funded by the Government of Finland, and the National Broadcasters Climate and Disaster Resilience Plan (BCDRP) Project funded by the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS).
"Our FINPAC project works with both the national Meteorological Services to build their capacity in delivering quality climate related information as well as Pacific communities to enhance their understanding of the information provided and how best to apply this to strengthen their ability to build resilience against climate change related disasters," said Ms. Christina Leala-Gale FINPAC Project Manager at SPREP.
"The role of the media in communicating and helping Pacific communities to understand the information provided by the Met Service is an important part of this project."
The regional training is one phase of this activity followed by coverage of the biannual Pacific Meteorological Council (PMC) from 20 to 23 July followed by the High Level Ministerial component on July 24.
This is the third PMC and the very first Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Meteorology to take place, the PMC was formed in place of the Regional Meteorological Service Directors Meetings which have been happening since 1993.
Participants of the media training are from Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The BCDRP Project is funded by PACMAS and implemented by SPREP in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. FINPAC is funded by the Government of Finland and implemented by SPREP.
The Media training is held from 15 – 17 July followed by coverage of the Pacific Meteorological Council from 20 – 24 July, 2015. Should you wish to receive the PMC bulletin updates please contact Ms. Nanette Woonton at [email protected]
Climate Change Resilience
