LocationsClearing the Path to Safer Climate Infrastructure in Solomon Islands
February 5, 2026
Preparing a site for construction works carries a unique prerequisite responsibility as the islands still hold remnants of World War II in the form of unexploded ordnance (UXO), often lying unnoticed or buried in family-owned land, gardens, coastal paths, and hillsides.
Before any weather station is built, before the first materials arrive, and long before data begins flowing into national and global forecasting systems, there is a quieter task that determines whether progress can even begin: making sure the ground itself is safe.
As part of the Advancing Meteorological Observation Systems for Resilient Development (AMOS-RD) project, implemented by the UN Development Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) and supported by the Systematic Observations Financing Facility (SOFF), teams are preparing sites across Solomon Islands for new and rehabilitated meteorological stations. This includes eight surface stations and the construction of three new upper-air stations that will align with the standards set by the Global Basic Observing Network (GBON).
But in Solomon Islands, preparing a site for construction works carries a unique prerequisite responsibility. The islands still hold remnants of World War II in the form of unexploded ordnance (UXO), often lying unnoticed or buried in family-owned land, gardens, coastal paths, and hillsides. For AMOS-RD, UXO assessment is not an add-on; it is a necessary foundation. Securing permits from relevant authorities and local landowners ensures the work is done with transparency and respect. Disclosures with government and health authorities affirm a shared commitment to safety before development proceeds.
In Tulagi, UXO risk is woven into daily life. Footpaths thread between homes and vegetation; children play within sight of the ocean; families depend on the land for gardening and raising their households. It is a place where nature, people, and inherited hazards coexist quietly. Ensuring safety here is an obligation to the community long accustomed to navigating risks.
The UXO team leading the battle area clearance, Clear Grounds, brings both technical expertise and lived understanding of these landscapes. Many have grown up in communities where remnants of war were simply part of the environment.
Patterson Filiga has worked in explosive ordnance disposal for over 15 years, long before Clear Grounds was officially formed six years ago. For him, this work is both a lived experience and life’s mission.
Growing up in the Russell Islands, unexploded munitions were a permanent fixture lodged in the crevices of trees and rock faces.
“We saw them everywhere. I had but one thought — they need to be cleared,” he says.
When an EOD team once arrived in his village to remove a UXO found near a home, something shifted for him: “I remember thinking: I want to do that. I want to be the one who clears these, so people don’t have to live with that risk anymore.”
Patterson and the Clear Grounds team move through the site in a coordinated sequence designed for precision and safety.
It begins with safety briefings; first at base, then again onsite to ground the team in shared responsibility. Vegetation is cleared section by section, allowing scanners to access the soil. Technicians sweep each cleared area using detection equipment, including handheld detectors and a large-loop system carried by two operators, which can sense deeper or larger objects underground.
Every alert is investigated. The soil is opened carefully until the source is confirmed. While not every signal leads to ordnance recovery, removing rusted machinery, historic debris, or metal piping buried is just as important: it reduces potential contamination, restores the ground to a safer condition, and ensures no risks remain hidden beneath future infrastructure.
Once the full area is assessed and marked safe, the next steps in construction process can begin.
While the clearing was underway, Patterson also took time to speak with community members who stopped to observe the work. He explained what the team was doing, what different signals meant, and how communities, families, especially children, can stay safe if they ever come across remnants. This kind of engagement is an essential part of the process: it ensures that it strengthens not only the land, but also the community’s understanding of the risks around them.
The new upper-air station site in Tulagi will join those in Taro and Lata, expanding Solomon Islands Meteorological Services (SIMS) capacity to launch weather balloons and contribute essential atmospheric data for climate monitoring and early warning systems. These upgrades will allow the SIMS to deliver more accurate, timely, and locally relevant climate and weather information to communities across the country.
“The Pacific Islands are a globally critical region to improve weather forecasts. Closing the basic weather and climate data gaps in the Pacific would not only reduce forecast uncertainty by up to 20 percent in the region but also improve forecast accuracy across the globe,” says Markus Repnik, Director of SOFF. “Therefore, the commitment of the Solomon Islands to strengthen its basic observing network is of major importance, creating local, regional and global benefits.”
AMOS-RD’s approach reflects a broader principle: climate resilience cannot be built in isolation. It requires understanding the lived realities of the land, respecting its history, working with communities, and ensuring that development strengthen -- not compromises – safety, resilience and dignity.
To build resilience and sustainability into the systems that forecast the storms ahead, we must first address the risks left behind. Only then can new infrastructure truly serve the people it is meant to protect.
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