The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Association V (South-West Pacific) Working Group on Weather Services under the leadership of Mr. Raymond Tanabe (USA) had its first session on 11 August 2017 at the Solomon’s Kitano Mendana Hotel, in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The session was attended by Working Group Vice-Lead, Mr Grahame Reader (Australia), Task Team Lead on Cost Recovery, Mr. O’fa Fa’nunu (Tonga), Task Team Lead on Weather Services Implementation, Mr. Mohd Hisham Anip (Malaysia), as well as representatives from Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, the United States of America, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The Lead, Vice-Lead and Task Team Leads provided updated information on the Work Group’s activities under their portfolio including cost recovery; quality management; training, competencies and qualifications; and weather services. Discussions also covered linkages and coordination with the Pacific Islands Aviation Weather Services (PIAWS) Panel, contributions to the Pacific Islands Meteorological Strategy (PIMS), as well as linkages with the Climate Risk Early Warning System (CREWS)-Canada and Canada Projects in the Pacific “Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Early Warning Services in the Pacific” and “Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydro-meteorological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South-East Asia (SEA)”. The one-day session concluded with discussions on the future work plan for the working group.
Participants at the Session of WMO RA V Working Group on Weather Services.
Photo Credit: Mr Henry Taiki, WMO