A regional media training workshop to sharpen Pacific journalists’ weather and climate reporting will be held on September 17–18, 2023, with selected participants to form a Pacific News Team that will cover two key regional meetings in Tonga later that month.
Organisers say the Mana Master Class — coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Pacific Community (SPC) with support from the Australia and New Zealand Government‑funded Climate and Oceans Support Programme in the Pacific (COSPPac) — aims to boost the capacity of Pacific Islands media to report accurately on extreme weather, seasonal forecasts and climate risk. The selected reporters will accompany officials and experts at the 8th Pacific Meteorological Council Meeting (PMC8) and the 4th Pacific Meteorology Ministers Meeting (4PMMM), scheduled for September 21–25 in Tonga.
“As a Pacific Islander, I know all too well just how much our lives are impacted by weather and climate. We know firsthand what happens when we have floods, cyclones and droughts. It is essential that people are well informed so families and communities can prepare for what may come,” Salesa Nihmei, SPREP’s Director of Climate Science and Information, said in a statement announcing the workshop. She stressed the media’s role in amplifying crucial information ahead of extreme events and the need to strengthen journalists’ skills so communities receive clear, actionable warnings.
The two‑day training will pair practical reporting sessions with briefings from regional weather and climate experts and will involve Pacific News Editors in mentoring roles. Organisers say this approach is designed both to improve immediate coverage of the ministerial and council meetings and to build longer‑term networks between island media organisations and meteorological services across the Pacific and internationally.
Expressions of Interest are now open to Pacific Islands journalists living and working in the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The announcement does not include application deadlines or selection criteria; organisers and partner agencies have encouraged interested journalists to apply and to liaise with national editors or contacts at SPC and SPREP for details.
The initiative comes as Pacific nations face increasingly volatile weather patterns and more frequent extreme events linked to climate change, making timely and accurate reporting of forecasts and warnings a critical component of community resilience. The PMC and PMMM meetings bring together national meteorological services, regional agencies and ministers to discuss strengthening early warning systems, seasonal forecasting and coordinated responses — discussions organisers expect the Pacific News Team will help translate for island communities.
By investing in media skills alongside technical capacity, SPREP and SPC aim to ensure that scientific information reaches vulnerable populations in accessible formats, strengthening preparedness and response at the community level as regional leaders and meteorologists meet in Tonga next month.