Climate Change

With the EU's current partnership agreement with the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries expiring in 2020, they are working towards a new agreement.

Stefano Manservisi, the Director-General of DEVCO, is visiting the Pacific, taking in visits to Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Australia and New Zealand.

He said the EU was proposing to embed in a new agreement a "specific Pacific pillar", based on common objectives.

For Tokelau, this is now underway with a special inception workshop held in Samoa, to plan implementation of the different activities.

With the Tokelau General Fono recently endorsing the Tokelau Climate Change Strategy – 'Living with Change' the protection of the ocean is featured as a high priority.

 Being part of the New Zealand Pacific Partnership on Ocean Acidification (NZPPOA) regional project to build resilience to ocean acidification is especially important for Tokelau and her community.

“We are dealing with scientific facts, not politics. And the facts are clear. Climate change is a direct threat in itself, and a multiplier of many other threats,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a General Assembly High-Level action event aimed at invigorating political momentum on climate change, highlighting its deep links to the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.
 
Guterres said his messages to the meeting are simple.
 

In November, Fiji will be the president of the global climate change negotiations known as COP23, which follow on from landmark talks that led to a key climate agreement in Paris in 2015.

Krishneil Narayan, the co-ordinator of the Pacific Islands Climate Network, an umbrella organisation for 58 regional organisations, said this allows Pacific countries a real opportunity to highlight their plight.

The students spent a good part of their Wednesday morning hearing from presenters in the various divisions in SPREP, such as Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management, Climate Change and Waste Management and Pollution Control.

Ms Amber Carvan of the PacWaste project presented on behalf of the WMPC division on Persistent Organic Pollutants and how they can enter our environment through the burning of rubbish.

 Students were taught of different ways in which rubbish can be disposed instead of burning, such as composting and recycling.

The secretary general, Dame Meg Taylor, is leading a delegation to Beijing, Guangzhou and Hainan Province, with a focus on partnerships for sustainable development.

She said China was a valued partner of the Pacific region and the Forum was looking forward to a deeper and more dynamic relationship.

Dame Meg said increasingly China was taking a leadership role in addressing climate change.

She said the agency hoped it continues this role as the world implements the bold initiatives of the Paris Agreement.

Photo: AFP Dame Meg Taylor 

Breaking a decade-long tradition of endorsing open trade, G20 finance ministers and central bankers made only a token reference to trade in their communique on Saturday, a clear defeat for host nation Germany which fought the new US government's attempts to water down past commitments.

That was just a year after the group, made up of the world's 20 largest economies, vowed to "resist all forms of protectionism".

“It is no secret that the United States federal administration under President Trump appears to be less enthusiastic about the Paris Agreement,” Mr Bainimarama told the Fijian Parliament.

He said during their meeting with United Nations top climate change administrator, Patricia Espinosa last week in Suva, both agreed that the world cannot afford to drop the ball at this critical stage.

The agreement and work plan will explore a range of different partnership opportunities in the field of marine science.

Ocean conservation under a future of climate change is an overarching theme of the work of SPREP for which key milestones will benefit from this MoU. 

Construction of the Pacific Climate Change Centre begins this year, and this regional hub for inclusive collaboration on adaptation and mitigation priority needs for Pacific islands will be strengthened by the outcomes of the MoU.

The focus of the course run by the global advocacy group, the Women's Environment and Development Programme, or WEDO, is on preparing women to take a greater role in climate change negotiations.

WEDO's Bridget Burns said often women are shut out of the discussions.

She said the training aims to establish a body of Pacific women able to really engage in climate change negotiations in the international arena.