Tech & Sci
21:59, 04-Sep-2017
United we stand divided we drown – climate change and Pacific countries
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Pacific island nations hold their annual meeting in the Samoan capital Apia this week, with climate change and the threat of global warming on top of the agenda, officials say.
The 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), lasting from September 4 to 8, includes countries such as Kiribati and Tuvalu, which are only meters above sea level and risk being swamped by rising oceans.
Others, such as Vanuatu and Fiji, have been battered in recent years by devastating cyclones that have become more extreme as global warming affects weather patterns.
Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean, faces threat from global warming. /Reuters Photo
Kiribati, an island nation in the central Pacific Ocean, faces threat from global warming. /Reuters Photo
Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga said there was no subject more important to the people of the Pacific.
"This is an issue about our existence... climate change threatens our very identities," he said.
PIF secretary general Meg Taylor said the summit was an opportunity for small island nations to speak as one voice.
"We can do more together than we can alone, I think this will be at the heart of the discussions," she said.
Taylor said the unified approach had already proved successful when Pacific nations successfully pushed for strong aspirational goals at the UN climate talks in Paris in 2015.
"That was led by the champions of the Pacific... (we) were able to persuade the world that this was so very important," she said.
The Pacific's next chance to demand further action on climate is at the UN talks being held in Bonn in November.
Fiji, as one of the island nations on the frontline of climate change, has been invited to chair the talks, making this week's PIF an important forum for Pacific leaders to discuss strategy.
An afternoon storm looms above fishermen on the mud flats of a Suva beach, Fiji. /Reuters Photo
An afternoon storm looms above fishermen on the mud flats of a Suva beach, Fiji. /Reuters Photo
Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said the "Blue Pacific" theme of this year's summit put specific focus on placing the region at the center of international policy making.
"Embracing this as a unique opportunity in the history of the region, the Blue Pacific provides a new narrative for Pacific regionalism and how the Forum engages with the world," he said.
The PIF links Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
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Source(s): AFP