Understanding more about the region’s severe weather and protecting lives and livelihoods are primary aims of a new science-based weather and climate partnership for countries in the region, currently including Malaysia and the Philippines.

The Met Office, as a delivery partner for the Newton Fund, will be working with organisations in the region and the UK to build a program of scientific weather-related research and to develop advice related to high-impact weather events.

Simon Vosper, Met Office Director of Meteorological Science, said: “Southeast Asia is regularly rocked by high-impact weather events. Our partnership program will build further understanding of the development of severe weather in the region improving the accuracy and detail of forecasts through more refined models. The end result is improved forecasts saving lives and protecting livelihoods.”

The program will be launched at events in the Philippines on 21 July and Malaysia on 25 July, 2017.

The Weather & Climate Service Partnership for Southeast Asia (WCSSP Southeast Asia) builds on other projects around the world, including Brazil, China and South Africa.

The Southeast Asia partnership is led in the Philippines by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and in Malaysia by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA).


The Weather and Climate Science for Service (WCSSP) Programme comprises projects to develop partnerships harnessing UK scientific expertise to build the basis for strengthening the resilience of vulnerable communities to weather and climate variability, supported by the UK government's Newton Fund. 

WCSSP currently includes the following projects: the Climate Science for Service Partnership China (CSSP China), the Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership South Africa (WCSSP South Africa) and Climate Science for Service Partnership Brazil (CSSP Brazil).