Apia, Samoa - In a landmark moment for Pacific climate resilience, the Pacific Leaders Weather Ready Pacific (WRP) Programme being implemented by SPREP has launched its Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Strategy 2025–2033.

The new strategy, launched on Friday 13 March 2026, is a comprehensive framework designed to ensure that early warning systems, weather forecasts, and disaster preparedness services reach every person across the Pacific, especially the most vulnerable.

Kiribati and Samoa are set to receive 20 new SOFAR Smart Mooring buoys, with 10 destined for Kiribati and 10 for Samoa, to strengthen real-time ocean and climate information for communities and decision-makers across both countries. The deployment is funded through the European Union-funded Climate Services and Related Applications (ClimSA Pacific) programme, implemented by SPREP in partnership with Kiribati Meteorological Services and Samoa Meteorological Services.

NUKU'ALOFA, TONGA — When visitors fly into Tonga's azure waters for whale watching in Vava'u, island-hopping across Ha'apai or diving the reefs of 'Eua, they rely on aviation systems that depend on accurate, certified weather information. Now, the Tonga Meteorological Service (TMS) is investing in the people and systems that keep those services and the economy running safely.

Nuku’alofa, Tonga — The Tonga Meteorological Service (TMS) has taken a significant step forward in its quality improvement journey, with staff completing internal auditor training as part of an ongoing effort to bring its weather, climate, ocean and early warning services in line with international standards.

The Samoa Meteorological Service (SMS) is reviving its work in the collection, monitoring and verification, and integration of traditional knowledge into climate and weather forecasting systems with the support of the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac) Phase 3 Project implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). 

Implementing partners of the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac) met in Melbourne from 2 – 6 February 2026  for a week-long coordination meeting aimed at progressing collaboration in the implementation of the programme, and advancing climate and ocean services, including data, ICT and communication platform and to reduce duplication across the Pacific region.

The Weather Ready Pacific (WRP) programme has received a major boost with Tonga’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Lord Fakafanua, graciously accepting the role of championing the Weather Ready Pacific Programme.

Confirmed during his recent meeting with the Director General of SPREP on 30 January 2026, this marks a significant milestone for regional efforts to strengthen weather and climate resili-ence across the Pacific. 

New climate data shows that 2025 was the fifth warmest year ever recorded in the western Pacific, continuing a long term warming trend that is reshaping conditions across the region.

According to ERA5, a global climate dataset from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2025 was the third warmest year on record worldwide, following 2024 and 2023. In the western Pacific, it ranked fifth warmest since 1940, with January, February, March, May, and October all among the hottest months ever observed.