Innovative use of the internet to stay connected and access climate information, and for education to build resilience, was highlighted at the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, during the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt this week.

A side event that focused on “Resilience Building in the Virtual Space” was hosted at the Pavilion.

The development of an e-Learning platform by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) was highlighted. The moodle platform hosts virtual trainings such as the Pacific Climate Change Centre Training Courses [PCCC] and the Inform Project e-Learning Series.

The e-Learning platform was officially launched in 2021 as a way for the PCCC to connect with members in order for the training courses to be conducted. The platform has since expanded to host the Inform project e-learning series, and Climate Finance Access Network (CFAN) training Participants shared innovative solutions.

Pacific Met Services

President of the World Meteorological Organization’s Regional Area V and Director of Tonga's Meteorological Services. 'Ofa Fa'anunu, said a number of steps were taken by Pacific NMHSs to build resilience in the virtual space, including the migration of websites and databases to virtual Cloud technology, and the convening of virtual Ocean and Climate Outlook Forums (OCOF) for all NMHSs, coordinated by SPREP.

A total of 175 Climate Outlook Forums have been organised since 2007.

“During these forums, all of the Pacific Met services come together to share their forecasts and predictions which helps us to get a feeling of the climate outlook and to come to a consensus as a region.”

The first virtual Pacific Islands Climate Outlook Forum (PICOF) was conducted in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, and since then, hybrid PICOFs have been organised to happen twice a year. The PICOFs will be moving more into the virtual environment in the future, he said.

“Some Met Services, such as the Samoa Met Service, also started to move into the use of mobile apps and social media, which is a very powerful tool to get the message out to the public.

Challenges

“But the virtual transition do not come without its challenges, some of which are the limited access to internet in some countries in the Pacific, as well as the slow speed and high cost of connectivity. The capacity of Pacific communities to understand the information in a virtual space was also identified as a challenge, as well as the need for reforms within NMHSs to accommodate more IT capacity.”

Despite these challenges, Fa'anunu was optimistic, that there were opportunities to support NMHSs through this transition into the virtual space.

This included the Weather Ready Pacific Decadal Programme of Investment, a ten-year investment plan, which will further strengthen the resilience and service delivery of Pacific NMHSs, resulting in more resilient communities and a more resilient Pacific.

At the same time, Dr. George Carter, the SPREP Consultant for developing the e-Learning Platform, said the idea came about in 2020 when the pandemic started and put on hold a number of training courses that were scheduled to be carried out for participants from around the Pacific.