Fiji’s Hydrometeorological Observation Equipment Maintenance and Service Production

Assuring the production of—and public access to—reliable, up-to-date and understandable weather and climate information, as well as factoring in the impact of climate change, is crucial for societies around the world. Without adequately maintaining and improving its system of hydrometeorological monitoring, the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS) will be unable to do the following: provide timely warnings of climate hazards and disaster risks; reliably predict water discharges for water resource management; provide support to other sectors; and effectively manage weather-, water- and climate-related risk assessments. It is important to strengthen information and communication technology infrastructure and systems that provide weather, climate and hydrological data. In addition, enhancing observation networks could improve all FMS services. Ultimately the FMS should have a system to meet the needs and demands of the government and the public.

This document is intended to provide the FMS with a roadmap of actions for sustainable development of the organization and sustainable utilization of the overall infrastructure, including the major steps or milestones needed to reach it. The focus is on FMS’s internal organization and management observation networks and equipment, as well as forecast production tools and service provision. This document first offers an analysis of the current situation and related gaps and then provides a list of priority actions to be taken with some guidelines on how to implement them.

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