By Linny Folau

The Tongan Government is looking to commit more than US$25 million towards the development of multi-hazard early warning systems over the next-three years.

At the Second Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Meteorology in Honiara on August 18, Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni said Tonga is committed to developing resilience to extreme weather events brought by climate variability through strengthening of early warning systems.

“My Government has started and is looking to commit over US$25 million dollars to the development of multi-hazard early warning systems over the next three years," he said.

"We are looking to upgrade all our meteorological stations throughout the country including upgrade to office infrastructure and specialized instrumentation."

He said there would be investment in strengthening early warning and disaster response communication and alert systems. Data management systems will be improved. The national agencies will build their technical capacity to better access disaster risk financing.

Tonga hosted the first Ministers of Meteorology in 2015, launching the Nuku’alofa Declaration for sustainable weather and climate services for a resilient Pacific.

The Hon. Sovaleni congratulated the Pacific Meteorological Council with the coordination of SPREP in completing a mid-term review and finalizing a Pacific Islands Meteorology Strategy 2017-2026.