diff --git a/hvplot/tests/testui.py b/hvplot/tests/testui.py
index 2d9062ecb..4ef833ad9 100644
--- a/hvplot/tests/testui.py
+++ b/hvplot/tests/testui.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ def test_explorer_basic():
 def test_explorer_settings():
     explorer = hvplot.explorer(df)
 
-    explorer.param.set_param(
+    explorer.param.update(
         kind='scatter',
         x='bill_length_mm',
         y_multi=['bill_depth_mm'],
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def test_explorer_settings():
 def test_explorer_plot_code():
     explorer = hvplot.explorer(df)
 
-    explorer.param.set_param(
+    explorer.param.update(
         kind='scatter',
         x='bill_length_mm',
         y_multi=['bill_depth_mm'],
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ def test_explorer_plot_code():
 def test_explorer_hvplot():
     explorer = hvplot.explorer(df)
 
-    explorer.param.set_param(
+    explorer.param.update(
         kind='scatter',
         x='bill_length_mm',
         y_multi=['bill_depth_mm'],
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ def test_explorer_hvplot():
 def test_explorer_save(tmp_path):
     explorer = hvplot.explorer(df)
 
-    explorer.param.set_param(
+    explorer.param.update(
         kind='scatter',
         x='bill_length_mm',
         y_multi=['bill_depth_mm'],
diff --git a/hvplot/ui.py b/hvplot/ui.py
index 2c677bb37..aceeb8296 100644
--- a/hvplot/ui.py
+++ b/hvplot/ui.py
@@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ def __init__(self, df, **params):
             cls.name.lower(): cls(df, explorer=self, **cparams)
             for cls, cparams in controller_params.items()
         }
-        self.param.set_param(**self._controllers)
+        self.param.update(**self._controllers)
         self.param.watch(self._plot, list(self.param))
         for controller in self._controllers.values():
             controller.param.watch(self._plot, list(controller.param))
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ def _plot(self, *events):
             self._layout[1][1] = self._hvpane
             self._alert.visible = False
         except Exception as e:
-            self._alert.param.set_param(
+            self._alert.param.update(
                 object=f'**Rendering failed with following error**: {e}',
                 visible=True
             )
diff --git a/hvplot/util.py b/hvplot/util.py
index d4f748637..297b7cea7 100644
--- a/hvplot/util.py
+++ b/hvplot/util.py
@@ -135,11 +135,21 @@ def proj_to_cartopy(proj):
 
     srs = proj.srs
     if has_gdal:
-        # this is more robust, as srs could be anything (espg, etc.)
-        s1 = osr.SpatialReference()
-        s1.ImportFromProj4(proj.srs)
-        if s1.ExportToProj4():
-            srs = s1.ExportToProj4()
+        import warnings
+        with warnings.catch_warnings():
+            # Avoiding this warning could be done by setting osr.UseExceptions(),
+            # except there might be a risk to break the code of users leveraging
+            # GDAL on their side or through other libraries. So we just silence it.
+            warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', category=FutureWarning, message=
+                r'Neither osr\.UseExceptions\(\) nor osr\.DontUseExceptions\(\) has '
+                r'been explicitly called\. In GDAL 4\.0, exceptions will be enabled '
+                'by default'
+            )
+            # this is more robust, as srs could be anything (espg, etc.)
+            s1 = osr.SpatialReference()
+            s1.ImportFromProj4(proj.srs)
+            if s1.ExportToProj4():
+                srs = s1.ExportToProj4()
 
     km_proj = {'lon_0': 'central_longitude',
                'lat_0': 'central_latitude',
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fec98ab1a..c4f613b55 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,3 +4,24 @@ requires = [
     "pyct >=0.4.4",
     "setuptools >=30.3.0"
 ]
+
+
+[tool.pytest.ini_options]
+addopts = "-v --pyargs"
+norecursedirs = "doc .git dist build _build .ipynb_checkpoints"
+# The test suite used to be run with nosetests which collected
+# by default files like `testgeo.py` while pytest's default is
+# to collect files like `test_geo.py`. This setting allows
+# to avoid renaming all the test files.
+python_files = "test*.py"
+filterwarnings = [
+    # 2023-09: See https://github.com/matplotlib/matplotlib/issues/25244
+    "ignore:Deprecated call to `pkg_resources.+?'mpl_toolkits:DeprecationWarning",
+    "ignore:Deprecated call to `pkg_resources.+?'sphinxcontrib:DeprecationWarning",
+    # 2023-09: See https://github.com/ibis-project/ibis/pull/6973
+    "ignore:.+? is deprecated and will be removed in a future version:FutureWarning:ibis.formats.pandas",
+    # 2023-09: See https://github.com/Unidata/MetPy/pull/3117
+    "ignore: 'xdrlib' is deprecated and slated for removal in Python 3.13:DeprecationWarning:metpy.io.nexrad",
+    # 2023-09: See https://github.com/python-streamz/streamz/issues/460
+    "ignore: pkg_resources is deprecated as an API:DeprecationWarning:streamz.plugins",
+]
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 2d82b8664..a691d2004 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -42,15 +42,6 @@ deps = unit: {[_unit]deps}
        examples: {[_examples]deps}
        all: {[_all]deps}
 
-[pytest]
-addopts = -v --pyargs
-norecursedirs = doc .git dist build _build .ipynb_checkpoints
-; The test suite used to be run with nosetests which collected
-; by default files like `testgeo.py` while pytest's default is
-; to collect files like `test_geo.py`. This setting allows
-; to avoid renaming all the test files.
-python_files = test*.py
-
 [flake8]
 include = *.py
 # run_tests.py is generated by conda build, which appears to have a