Nauru and Tokelau have become the newest members to join the Pacific Meteorological Council.
Islands Business reports in welcoming the countries on board, new chair of the PMC, Lloyd Tahani said the countries could now enjoy the benefits of being part of the Council.
“We are so happy to have Nauru and Tokelau as members of PMC and having new members joining the Council was a good initiative, especially when we want to work on resilience for all the Pacific island countries.”
“Through the regional framework, they would benefit in developing the capacity of their meteorological services so that are they able to serve their countries,” he said.
He added that as the new chair for PMC, he was committed to working with the Pacific Meteorological desk at the Secretariat of the Regional Environment Program (SPREP), donor partners, and members.
“This collaboration will advance our strategies in PMC especially with our panel of experts within the PMC which is involved in various activities, which should progress these priorities in the Pacific island countries.”
Nauru’s emergency services Director, Barassi Botelanga expressed his enthusiasm to be part of the Council, stressing that being part of the PMC meant being able to work together to amplify Pacific Island voices on a global platform.
“To be part of the PMC is very honourable for Nauru and together, we can have a strong voice and we can raise any issue,” he said.
“Becoming part of the PMC means we will have access to all the internal update of what’s going on, what needs to be discussed and endorsed, as opposed to when you are not a member – very few information is received.”
Botelanga said the biggest challenge faced by the Nauru’s National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS) was the absence of a dedicated meteorology building. The Met Service is sharing space with the national fire service in Nauru.
He said funding of AUD$680,000 had been secured through the Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific Project (BSRP Project) to construct a new home of the NMHS on Nauru. The government of Nauru also contributed to the cost of the new Met home.
“We are still in the process of building the NMHS Center, however this will take a fare bit of time due to the process of clearing of the land and bidding of the construction contract” he said.
This process is expected to be completed before November of this year.
Meanwhile, Loia Tausi, Manager for the Department of Economic Development, Natural Resources and Environment of Tokelau said the territory wanted to be part and parcel of what was available for the Pacific region through the PMC in terms of resources and capacity development.
“Right now, we depend on Fiji and Samoa for the meteorology services, and I am grateful for these countries for the service rendered to us so far but I believe in life we have to move on, and the stepping stone we are looking at is to move on and become more independent” she said.
“Secondly, in terms of capacity development, there is a great need in terms of human development, because we see that we don’t have that capacity”
Photo supplied. Caption: Nauru