RIMES and DNMG Timor-Leste successfully conducted a Technical Training on Forecast Products Interpretation in Dili, Timor-Leste from 24–26 March 2026 under the GCF Timor-Leste Project.

Building from last week’s training on the customization of ocean products, this phase focuses on the operationalization of forecasts and strengthening institutional capacity to translate technical outputs into actionable information. The training emphasizes the practical application of key systems, including the Climate Database Informatics System (CDIS) and the Ocean State Forecast and Advisory System (OSFAS), to support real-time decision-making and advisory services.

Participants are guided through hands-on sessions that enhance their ability to interpret forecast data and communicate timely advisories to relevant stakeholders. The program also highlights the importance of coordinated institutional response, ensuring that forecast information is effectively used across sectors.

To further strengthen preparedness, the training includes interagency Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) development and scenario-based tabletop discussions. These sessions simulate coordinated responses to critical events such as potential fishing zone advisories, coral bleaching, oil spills, and incoming high tides. Through these exercises, participants work together to define clear roles, responsibilities, and communication pathways.

By aligning technical capacity with institutional coordination, the training supports a more integrated and impact-based approach to ocean forecasting in Timor-Leste. It contributes to enhancing early warning systems, improving response readiness, and strengthening coastal resilience.

This continued collaboration under the GCF Timor-Leste Project reflects a shared commitment to advancing climate services and ensuring that forecast information leads to timely, informed, and effective action at the national level.

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The ongoing Technical Training on Customization of Ocean Forecast Products (16–23 March 2026) is strengthening participants’ technical capacity in ocean data processing and forecasting applications. The training introduces advanced concepts guiding participants from foundational oceanographic data to predictive simulations for environmental applications.

Participants are gaining hands-on experience in handling GRIB and netCDF data formats, applying statistical bias correction, and using Linux-based tools for data processing. The program also covers practical applications including tidal modeling, oil spill trajectory simulation, coral bleaching forecasting, and mapping of potential fishing zones using satellite data. Sessions on Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and ocean observation systems further support integrated analysis for decision-making. 

This will be followed by the Technical Training on Forecast Products Interpretation (24–26 March 2026), which will focus on strengthening the ability to interpret and operationalize forecast information. Using the Climate Database Informatics System (CDIS) and the Ocean State Forecast and Advisory System (OSFAS), participants will enhance their skills in data interpretation, system operation, and advisory dissemination.

The training will emphasize translating technical forecast outputs into actionable information, including the development of standard operating procedures and institutional coordination mechanisms. Practical sessions will also introduce tools such as Windy.com and scenario-based forecasting exercises for hazard preparedness. 

Participants from multiple national institutions are actively engaged in the training, including APORTIL – Ports Authority of Timor-Leste, AMN – National Maritime Authority, UPM – Maritime Police Unit, DNTM – National Directorate of Maritime Transport, and UNTL – National University of Timor-Leste. This is fostering collaboration across marine, meteorological, academic, and operational sectors.

Together, these efforts continue to strengthen technical competencies, enhance operational readiness, and support Timor-Leste in advancing impact-based early warning systems.

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The workshop brought together National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs), national sectoral agencies such as health and disaster risk management authorities, and development partners from across the region. It was organized by the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) in partnership with the UK Met Office under the SAHF IBF Implementation Plan Project supported by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) Asia-Pacific Programme, a part of the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) initiative. 

Over the course of the week, participating countries—including Bhutan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, and Afghanistan—refined time-bound national IBF demonstration roadmaps. These plans include the establishment or strengthening of technical working groups, validation of heatwave thresholds using historical data, integration of cumulative heat stress approaches, and structured stakeholder workshops to co-develop sector-specific impact tables.

The initiative aims to strengthen people-centered early warning systems that connect forecasts with exposure, vulnerability, and sector-specific impacts—enabling earlier and more informed action in sectors such as health, agriculture, livestock, disaster risk management, water, and urban services.

“I hope that this project serves not only as an example to help address temperature related hazards and impacts for countries in South Asia but also provides a rich repository of  learning to share with other regions tackling [temperature-related hazards] and also informing development of common approaches to impact-based forecasting,” remarked David Corbelli, Senior International Development  Manager at UK Met Office, in his opening remarks underscoring the regional and global importance of the initiative.

Meanwhile, Dr. K.J. Ramesh, SAHF Adviser from RIMES, highlighted the strategic importance of the workshop, “This is a milestone event for SAHF—the developments that we have worked hard for in the past years will soon bear fruit as we advance towards implementing the national demonstration plans on temperature-related hazards.”

The workshop adopted a Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model designed to create a pool of national experts who can cascade IBF knowledge to sub-national actors and sectoral partners, ensuring the long-term institutionalization of these systems.

Technical sessions throughout the workshop focused on strengthening threshold and trigger methodologies, incorporating cumulative heat stress monitoring, aligning IBF with anticipatory action frameworks, and integrating Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) mechanisms to support institutionalization and scaling. 

These national demonstrations will serve as practical testing grounds to refine thresholds, validate impact matrices, strengthen NMHS–sector coordination, and generate evidence to support nationwide rollout. Countries committed to initiating stakeholder consultations, with several planning pilot advisories during the March–May 2026 heat season.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Barun Paudel, Senior Divisional Meteorologist from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), expressed the NMHS’s continued support to the project. 

“As temperature-related hazards intensify across South Asia, our collaboration under the South Asia Hydromet Forum IBF initiative remains vital…This is not the end, but the beginning of our implementation.”

The workshop also reinforced alignment with the Early Warning for All (EW4All) initiative, positioning temperature-related IBF as a critical component of multi-hazard, multi-timescale early warning systems across South Asia.

RIMES and the UK Met Office will continue providing technical support, facilitate bi-weekly regional coordination meetings, and assist countries in cascading IBF training nationally. The 2026 national demonstrations are expected to generate actionable lessons to further strengthen regional climate services and disaster resilience. 

About the South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF)

The South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF) is a regional platform that strengthens collaboration among National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and sectoral agencies across South Asia. SAHF advances climate services, impact-based forecasting, and early warning systems to support informed decision-making and disaster risk reduction.

About RIMES

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to enhancing early warning capabilities and disaster resilience across Asia and Africa. RIMES supports countries in developing end-to-end early warning systems that integrate hazard science with impact analysis and risk-informed decision-making.

About WISER South Asia

The Weather and Climate Information Services for Resilience (WISER) South Asia programme, supported by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), aims to strengthen the use of weather and climate information to reduce vulnerability and build resilience across the region.

For more information, visit: https://www.sahf.info/

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The South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF) is scaling up regional climate resilience through three major initiatives that mark a push toward advancing hydromet capabilities in South Asia. With support from the WISER Asia Pacific and CREWS South Asia programs, and implemented through the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), these initiatives will support all six thematic areas of SAHF including: Numerical Weather Prediction, Observation Networks, Capacity Enhancement, Impact-Based Forecasting, Climate Services, and Hydrology.

These collaborations represent a major boost for the region in 2025. By enabling priority workplans and long-term institutional capacity building, SAHF aims to reduce socio-economic vulnerability and ensure sustained, coordinated actions across meteorological and hydrological domains while the region is facing intensifying climate risks.

The WISER Asia Pacific Programme: Driving Transformational Change

Managed by the UK Met Office and funded by UK International Development, the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) Programme, part of the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) initiative, emphasizes regional collaboration and the delivery of actionable, user-driven services.

Under the SAHF framework, WISER is supporting two major implementation plans that align directly with SAHF’s technical working groups:

1. IBF Working Group Implementation Plan

Participants from the Regional Workshop on Framework and Toolkit Development last November 2025 under the SAHF IBF Project.

Launched in August 2025, this project aims to drive transformational change in national and regional capabilities for delivering IBF and early warning services, specifically for temperature-related hazards. Recognizing the increasing risks posed by heatwaves and cold spells across South Asia, the project focuses on: strengthening institutional systems and methodologies and  enhancing technical processes required to         generate anticipatory, impact-driven warnings.

2. Climate Services Working Group Implementation 

SAHF Climate Services Working Group, user sector representatives, and development partners during its Inception Meeting in June 2025

Designed to establish a robust foundation for a regionally aligned climate services ecosystem, this initiative supports improvements in coherence, effectiveness, and cross-border coordination. The project ensures that climate information is consistent and accessible across the region by providing continuous technical support to the SAHF Climate Services Working Group.

CREWS South Asia: Unlocking Regional Synergies

The Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative is a global financial mechanism dedicated to strengthening risk-informed early warning services, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

3. Unlocking South Asia Regional Synergies for Resilience Building (CREWS South Asia Project)

Project stakeholders at the CREWS SA Inception Meeting on 09 December 2025

This four-year project, implemented by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), with RIMES as lead technical partner, is designed to leverage regional synergies and harmonize early warning initiatives across South Asia. It aims to enhance multi-hazard early warning systems and prioritizes the “last mile” of warning dissemination. RIMES, in particular, will aim to strengthen regional coordination by enhancing SAHF mechanisms such as the technical working groups and the Forecasters’ Forum.

Driving a Unified Path Toward a Safer Climate Future

Together, these three projects represent a forward-looking approach to climate risk management. As the region confronts floods, heatwaves, and urban climate pressures, these initiatives reinforce the commitment of South Asian nations to ensure climate information is reliable, accessible, and actionable for all.

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Khulna, Bangladesh | 03 December 2025 – In a significant step towards strengthening national resilience, the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (RIMES) convened the 2025 Winter Session of the Regional Climate Application Forum (RCAF).

Organized through the UK-Bangladesh Hydromet Partnership and the RIMES-BBC Media Action BRIDGES Initiative, the session brought together 77 participants, including forecasters, technical agencies, and sectoral users to enhance seasonal climate preparedness and strengthen multi-sector collaboration in southwestern Bangladesh. These partnerships collectively support improved climate information generation, communication and application across the country.

The forum served as a critical platform for dialogue between data providers and end-users. Syeda Sabrina Sultana, Senior Meteorological Officer at RIMES, opened the session by emphasizing the RCAF’s role as a national vehicle for generating user-driven, multi-timescale climate information. She urged participants to reflect on past seasons to refine how climate services support anticipatory action.

The event highlighted strong national commitment, with attendance from major government bodies including the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Department of Livestock Services (DLS), Department of Fisheries (DoF), and the Islamic Foundation, alongside NGOs and community groups.

Innovations in Forecasting and Application

BMD Deputy Director S. M. Qamrul Hassan explaining forecasting concepts and presenting the seasonal outlook.

A key focus of the session was the practical application of climate data. S. M. Qamrul Hassan, BMD Deputy Director, presented the Seasonal and Sub-Seasonal Climate Outlook for the Winter Monsoon. “Improving user understanding of forecasts is essential because informed decisions directly contribute to resilience,” says Hassan as he presented the climate outlook and clarified common forecasting concepts to improve user interpretation.

Participants engage in group review sessions to strengthen the accessibility and effectiveness of BMD’s Daily Weather Forecast Bulletin, ensuring climate information supports informed action at all levels.

Significant attention was also given to the “last mile” of communication. Asif Udin Bin Noor and Raisa Binthe Ahmed of RIMES facilitated an interactive review of the proposed Daily Weather Forecast Bulletin, currently being developed under the BRIDGES Project. Stakeholders evaluated the clarity, accessibility and structure of the bulletin and offered suggestions to enhance its use among different stakeholder groups. The exercise highlighted the importance of making climate and weather information practical and easy to interpret for end users.

Sectoral Applications of Climate Information

The forum showcased data-driven success stories demonstrating the tangible benefits of climate services:

• Agriculture: Muhammad Tanjilur Rahman, Senior Project Officer at RIMES, shared results from the Forecast Application for Risk and Resource Management (FARRM) School. The initiative reported a 91.8% improvement in farmer decision-making and a 98.3% increase in the ability to interpret and act on weather forecasts. 

“When farmers can interpret climate information, they plan better and reduce losses. The results show the real value of climate services,” Rahman observed.

Muhammad Tanjilur Rahman, RIMES Senior Project Officer (Meteorology), presents the outcomes of the Farmer’s FARRM School.

• Livestock: Dr. A. K. M. Rakibul Hasan introduced the National Livestock Advisory System (NLAS), explaining that “NLAS enables DLS to move from reactive responses to proactive planning based on real-time climate information.”

Dr. Hasan demonstrated how the system integrates weather and climate data into livestock management to support decision making on fodder planning, disease control and livestock protection.

Dr. A. K. M. Rakibul Hasan, Department of Livestock Services, demonstrating how the National Livestock Advisory System supports proactive planning.

Reflections from Local Government

Mr. Bitan Kumar Mandal, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), delivering his special remarks on climate resilience.

Special guest speakers from the district administration and agricultural extension services offered insights on the urgency of climate adaptation. Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Bitan Kumar Mandal, emphasised the need for immediate and sustainable adaptation practices in response to the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. 

“Forecasts guide us, but resilience is built through what we do next. We must adopt climate-smart solutions today to safeguard our communities,” he expressed.

In his closing remarks, S. M. Qamrul Hassan highlighted the value of continued collaboration among technical agencies, forecasters and sectoral users. He noted that forums such as RCAF play an essential role in strengthening the connection between climate science, communication and practical decision making. He also emphasized the importance of maintaining regular dialogue to ensure that climate information continues to support preparedness, response and long term resilience planning across Bangladesh.

Looking Ahead

The outcomes of the session are expected to enhance coordination among BMD, DLS, RIMES and sectoral users, strengthen climate informed planning for the winter season and improve stakeholder understanding of weather and climate information services. RCAF continues to function as a key national platform supporting both preparedness and long term resilience for communities across Bangladesh.

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About the Projects:

• The UK-Bangladesh Hydro-Met Collaboration, “Enhancing Resilience through Improved Climate and Hydrometeorological Services (EnRICH)”, funded with UK International Development from the UK government, aims to strengthen Bangladesh’s flood forecasting and early warning capacities by improving data integration, decision-support tools, and institutional capacities.
• The RIMES-BBC Media Action, “BRIDGES: Building climate resilience through strengthened communication across the WCIS system”, aims to improve Weather and Climate Information Services (WCIS) to ensure people take positive actions to adapt to climate change and build resilience to climate-related natural hazards.

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) is an international organization dedicated to enhancing early warning capabilities and disaster resilience across Asia and Africa. For more information, visit RIMES.

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On 11 December 2025, the National Directorate of Meteorology and Geophysics (DNMG), under the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Timor-Leste, successfully convened the 10th National Monsoon Forum at the Ministry’s headquarters in Dili. The event was organized with technical support from RIMES through the UNEP-led Green Climate Fund (GCF) Project “Enhancing Early Warning Systems to Build Greater Resilience to Hydro-Meteorological Hazards in Timor-Leste.”

The Monsoon Forum serves as a User Interface Platform under Timor-Leste’s National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS), enabling government agencies, humanitarian partners, and technical institutions to jointly review climate conditions, seasonal forecasts, and their implications for national and sectoral planning.

This year’s Forum brought together over 90 participants from 40 institutions, representing key sectors such as agriculture, water resources, energy, health, environment, disaster risk management, and media. Discussions reviewed the 2025 dry season performance, compared observed and forecast conditions, and explored the seasonal outlook for the 2025–2026 wet season.

Sectoral groups conducted impact and risk-mapping exercises to identify key hazards, preparedness strategies, and action plans. RIMES presented ongoing progress in Decision Support Systems (DSS) and mobile application development, while UNEP shared updates on the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) and the Climate Services Action and Communication Plan (CSACP).

The Forum concluded with agreed sectoral recommendations to strengthen forecast-based planning, improve access to multi-hazard information, and enhance institutional capacities for anticipatory action.

This milestone reinforces DNMG’s sustained leadership in coordinating climate services and highlights the continued partnership among DNMG, UNEP, RIMES, and national agencies in advancing climate-resilient development for Timor-Leste.

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24-28 November 2025 | Bangkok, Thailand — The South Asia Hydromet Forum (SAHF) successfully concluded a five-day regional workshop this week, uniting South Asian meteorological services, disaster management authorities, and development partners to strengthen early warning systems for heat and cold hazards. 

The event marks a major milestone in SAHF’s Impact-Based Forecasting (IBF) Implementation Project, supported by the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) Asia-Pacific Programme, part of the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) initiative. 

As heatwaves and cold spells intensify across the region, the workshop marked a critical milestone in shifting South Asia’s early warning systems from simply forecasting “what the weather will be” to predicting “what the weather will do.” Drawing on the UK’s experience with action-led forecasting, participants were also introduced to the value of incorporating behaviorally informed “what should I do?” guidance into warning systems. This approach, grounded in behavioral science, offers practical direction on how IBF messages can be designed to prompt real protective action, particularly for heat- and cold-related advisories.

SAHF Adviser Dr. K.J. Ramesh, in his opening remarks, stressed the urgency of the initiative. “Temperature-related hazards have become a very prominent hazard, not only in South Asia but all over the globe,” he stated, emphasizing the need for forecasts based on local exposure and vulnerability rather than just meteorological data.

The primary outcome of the workshop was the design of National Demonstration Plans which will serve as operational testbeds during the 2026 heat and cold seasons, allowing countries to refine triggers, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and coordination workflows in real-world conditions.

Over the five days, participants reviewed the IBF Baseline Assessment, refined the draft Regional Framework and Toolkit, and co-designed National Demonstration Plans that will test early warning thresholds, triggers, and coordination workflows in real-world conditions during the 2026 heat and cold seasons.

Development of IBF Regional Framework and Toolkit

Participants’ discussions throughout the workshops

The comprehensive baseline assessment exposed a stark “resilience divide” across South Asia, highlighting the urgent need for cross-border collaboration. Sub-regional discussions mapped out constraints and regional and national priorities according to geography and capacities:

• For the Himalayan nations of Nepal and Bhutan, the primary challenge is ensuring forecast reliability in complex terrain, driving a specific need for ensemble modeling and the integration of cold hazard thresholds alongside heat warnings. Conversely, island nations like the Maldives and Sri Lanka emphasized “perceived temperature” over absolute readings, prioritizing heat stress indices and the use of satellite datasets to compensate for sparse observational networks.
• For the continental group—including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar—the focus shifted to operational precision and the “last-mile.” These nations highlighted the need for high-resolution (3 km) models, AI-driven tools, and clearer protocols for forecasting “hazard abandonment” to manage public expectations. Across the board, particularly for countries with nascent systems, participants underscored a critical gap in disability-disaggregated data and the urgent need for formal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to institutionalize ad-hoc pilot successes.

These identified challenges and priorities feed into the development of the IBF Regional Framework and Toolkit which are active coordination mechanisms designed to deliver fully operational products within the next 18 months. This initiative centers on a “co-production approach,” ensuring that tools are not just technically accurate but useful for specific sectors on the ground.

“We need to have a continuous engagement that will not stop at a certain point,” Dr. Anshul Agarwal, SAHF Team Lead, explained during the session. “We can discuss our experiences and challenges… so that we can learn from each other and engage continuously with a strong communication mechanism.”

Launching of National Demonstrations

A core output of the workshop was the commencement of National Demonstration Plans by each participating country. These plans serve as the operational engine of the project, designed to test the Regional Framework and Toolkit in real-world scenarios.

To ensure that the countries are guided in the implementation, a “Training of Trainers” program is scheduled in the first quarter of 2026.

Regional Success Stories 

The sessions highlighted operational models already working in the region, providing a blueprint for neighboring nations:

• India: The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) showcased its mature heat-health system, which integrates Green-to-Red color-coded alerts with tiered health actions and community-level “heat alert boards.”
• Bangladesh: The National Livestock Advisory System was cited as a strong model for sector-specific warnings, automatically sending heat alerts to district livestock officers to protect agricultural assets.
• UK: The Met Office highlighted its “Action First” behavioral approach, emphasizing clear, actionable guidance to close the gap between awareness and response.
• Nepal: People in Need (PIN) detailed their “Action First” approach, mobilizing Female Community Health Volunteers to conduct door-to-door checks on vulnerable groups like outdoor workers.
• Southeast Asia: Although based in Southeast Asia, Global Heat Health Information Network’s (GHHIN) emerging regional model demonstrated  how a regional network can reframe extreme heat as a broad public-health challenge, and that countries can begin strengthening heat-health systems even with imperfect data, offering valuable parallels for South Asia’s IBF development.

Building Resilience Together

The workshop coincided with the 5th ESCAP Disaster Resilience Week, allowing participants to join side sessions on building heat resilience and understanding multi-hazard risk in coastal areas. Discussions highlighted SAHF’s growing role as a platform for regional coordination, linking efforts with initiatives such as the Early Warning for All (EW4ALL) campaign and the WMO network. 

The session on “Building Heat Resilience through Subregional and Regional Cooperation: Learning and Perspectives from South Asia” highlighted strong regional collaboration on impact-based forecasting and climate data sharing, featuring the South Asia Hydromet Forum and platforms such as RIMES’s DataEx, RDAS, and INSTANT platforms, and ESCAP’s Risk & Resilience Portal 3.0. Country examples from Bangladesh and India demonstrated growing operational heat advisory systems, while discussions stressed the need for standardized data, real-time health integration, and localized early warnings. The session also outlined a regional IBF plan to 2027, supported by capacity building and demonstration projects aimed at strengthening last-mile heat resilience across the region.

Meanwhile, the session on “Understanding Multi-Hazard Risk in Coastal Areas toward Enhancing Adaptation” underscored the escalating coastal threats—rising sea levels, storm surges, tsunamis, erosion, and marine heatwaves—and showcased ESCAP’s upcoming multi-hazard coastal vulnerability tool under the Climate Action for a Resilient Asia (CARA) Programme to support data-driven planning. With insights from India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, discussions emphasized localized risk mapping, early warning capacity, nature-based solutions, and regional data sharing as essential to strengthening coastal resilience.

“SAHF had a great presence, prominence, reference, exposure across the event, and had a lot of incredible feedback about the impact of SAHF as a model for regional cooperation to improve not just collaboration on hydromet but also in the development of services,” shared David Corbelli, UKMO Senior International Development Manager, as he summarized key takeaways from the side events.

Looking Ahead 

By the end of the workshop, all participating countries had drafted initial National Demonstration Plans, identifying priority products, user pathways, and pilot locations. Participants emphasized the importance of involving frontline users and local authorities to validate and refine IBF tools.

With the positive feedback and active participation among the participants, RIMES, through the SAHF team, is optimistic in fully realizing the project goal of strengthening regional capacity to deliver standardized, people-centred IBF tools and implement national and regional demonstration projects for temperature-related hazards.

“This workshop signals a decisive move toward operationalizing people-centred early warnings for temperature extremes across South Asia,” expressed SAHF Team Lead Dr. Agarwal. “The momentum is strong, and the commitment from every participating country is very clear.”

Next steps include refining National Demonstration Plans for clear objectives, sectoral partnerships, and seasonal timelines, conducting a Training of Trainers workshop in early 2026 on product generation and indicator development, and finalizing the Regional Framework and Toolkit based on workshop inputs for stakeholder review. 

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RIMES technical and management team met with the Autoridade Proteção Civil (APC), led by Mr. Martinho Fátima, Deputy of the National Operations Centre of Civil Protection, to strengthen collaboration on the Geohazard Decision Support System (DSS) and enhance early warning dissemination across Timor-Leste.

RIMES is considering the development and integration of multi-source earthquake and tsunami data into a unified DSS platform for the National Directorate of Meteorology and Geophysics (DNMG). The enhanced platform aims to streamline hazard information management, support scenario-based simulations, and facilitate the creation of advisories in both English and Tetum for effective and timely public communication.

The APC team emphasized the importance of simple and accessible communication tools to ensure communities receive timely alerts. RIMES presented plans for a mobile-based DSS application and potential integration with Timor Telecom for automated SMS alerts, enabling faster dissemination once hazard thresholds are reached. Both sides also discussed strengthening system connectivity and integrating radar and AWS data to improve the reliability and speed of warnings.

This meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment of RIMES, APC, and DNMG to strengthening disaster preparedness, advancing end-to-end early warning services, and building community resilience across Timor-Leste.

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On 29 November 2025, a delegation from the Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS), led by Mr. Ali Shareef, Deputy Director General, Meteorology, arrived at the RIMES Headquarters for a technical exchange visit. Six subject experts joined the mission, with the objective of strengthening institutional cooperation in forecasting, data management, and early warning systems.

Mr. A.R. Subbiah, Director General of RIMES, facilitated discussions on the progress and upcoming work under the SOFF Maldives Project. The delegation reviewed implementation milestones, explored areas for system improvement, and observed how multi hazard data is processed and visualized across platforms aligned with the GBON and WIS frameworks.

A dedicated technical session introduced OSFAS, the Ocean State Forecast and Advisory System that enhances marine and coastal monitoring services. The delegation also toured the RIMES Data Center and the real time monitoring and early warning units to gain first hand insight into the data infrastructure supporting regional hazard monitoring.

RIMES remains committed to working closely with MMS to advance reliable, impact-oriented weather, climate, and disaster resilience services for the Maldives.

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On 26 November 2025, H.E. Mr. Abdulla Ziyad, Minister of State, Minister of State for Tourism and Environment, Maldives, representing the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
The signing ceremony took place in Bangkok, during the Ninth Session of the Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction, a highlight of ESCAP’s Disaster Resilience Week 2025.

The MoU was signed by H.E. Mr. Abdulla Ziyad, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment and Energy of Maldives, on behalf of RIMES, and Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

This agreement formalizes a strengthened framework for collaboration between ESCAP and RIMES to accelerate science-based disaster risk reduction, multi-hazard early warning, and capacity development in support of resilient and sustainable development across Asia and the Pacific.

Under the MoU, both organizations will:

• Advance multi-hazard early warning systems and impact-based forecasting;
• Support institutional and technical capacity-building for member States;
• Facilitate joint research, training, and knowledge sharing; and
• Sustain outcomes achieved through the ESCAP Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness.

Building on years of collaboration, this renewed partnership aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Early Warnings for All initiative, reflecting a shared vision of a resilient, risk-informed Asia-Pacific region that is better prepared to address the growing challenges of climate change and disasters.

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