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 meeting brought together representatives from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Pacific Community (SPC), and Earth Sciences New Zealand for discussions that focused on technical progress, strategic priorities, and continued alignment of partner support to Pacific National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs).
The Weather Ready Pacific Programme (WRP) and the European Union-funded Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications (ClimSA) teams from SPREP were also represented, as part of SPREP’s Climate Science and Information programme’s goal to ensure that there is coordination across all programmes working in the region in the climate and weather space.
The discussions focused on understanding COSPPac delivery, risks, and priorities, improve coordination and harmony between COSPPac and the Weather Ready Pacific programme, and to identify transition pathways and future designs of what the next phase of COSPPac could potentially look like.
The week also coincided with the Mid-Term Review of Phase 3 of the COSPPac programme, providing an important opportunity to reflect on achievements to date and identify priorities for the remaining implementation period.
COSPPac Program Manager, Ms. Celine Becker, said the meetings were critical to ensuring the programme remains responsive to country needs amid increasing climate risks, and that the programme is staying on track as it reaches the half-way point of implementation.
“Strong coordination and collaboration between partners is essential to delivering climate and ocean services and information that is useful, usable, and used, and which meet the needs of NMHSs and the communities they serve, and ensures that we are on track to achieve our intended outcomes at this stage of the programme.”
The week also included important knowledge-sharing between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology team on how they communicate climate information to over 27 million Australians, and the tools that they use across all platforms to get important, life-saving information to the most vulnerable communities. Accessibility of information was also touched on as part of the Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion work.
Supported by the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, COSPPac has played a central role in strengthening climate and ocean services in the Pacific – supporting countries with tools, data, and capacity to deliver reliable climate and ocean information for decision-making.
Mr. Salesa Nihmei, Director of SPREP’s Climate Science and Information programme, emphasised the long-standing importance of COSPPac to the region.
“COSPPac has been the foundation of climate services in the Pacific since its first Phase which started in 2012, helping Pacific NMHSs strengthen their capacity to provide climate and ocean information that can protect Pacific lives and livelihoods,” said Mr. Nihmei.
“Going forward, our aim is to ensure that there is a holistic approach to activities being implemented in the region by programmes such as COSPPac, Weather Ready Pacific and ClimSA, to achieve the priority areas identified in the Pacific Islands Meteorological Strategy, which guides all the work that we do in this space,” he added.
For more information, please contact Mr. Salesa Nihmei at [email protected] or Mr. Philip Malsale at [email protected].