Unlocking Indonesia’s Resilience: A Good Practice of a Collaborative Journey to Strengthen BMKG Capacity for Weather and Climate Preparedness

Indonesia is a sprawling state archipelago with more than 275 million inhabitants that faces persistent urban and long-distance transport challenges. Indonesia is one of the world's most exposed countries to natural hazards, situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire (an area with a high degree of tectonic activity). Indonesia must cope with the constant risk of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis. Meanwhile, extreme dry and wet conditions (El Niño or La Niña phenomenon) can hamper harvests, trigger inflation, and put severe financial pressure on the poorer segments of the Indonesian population, further reducing people's capacity to cope.

Since 2023, the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) and the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics of the Republic of Indonesia (BMKG) have been cooperating through the INDFIN project that aims to Enhance BMKG Capacity on Weather Climate and Air Quality Forecast and Warnings to Better Serve the Indonesian Society. It is a three-year project supported by Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) through the Institutional Cooperation Instrument (ICI). The ICI instrument is a mechanism developed by MFA to finance development cooperation projects where the Finnish government agency cooperates with developing country government agencies in capacity building and organisational development.

In this presentation, the project's results and best practices will be shared. The presentation will highlight the partnership approach, including cooperation with the Finnish Red Cros, which was piloted to focus on the fulfilment of the cross-cutting objectives proposed by the MFA, extending the impact of the INDFIN project from the NHMA level to the people facing increasing climate shocks.