Campaigners who took part in Fiji’s climate change “talanoa” on Sunday were effusive after the event. The Pacific-inspired format put researchers, activists and lobbyists on an equal footing with government representatives, sitting in a circle and sharing their stories.

It kicked off a stocktake of efforts to put the Paris Agreement into practice, which will culminate in a political moment in Katowice, Poland this December.

This could produce a formal declaration from the conference. That outcome is still up for grabs, with nations vulnerable to the impacts of climate change particularly vocal about the need to raise ambition.

Hilda Heine, president of the low-lying Marshall Islands, tweeted: “The #Talanoa4ambition is not some bureacratic box-ticking exercise for my country. It’s the first step for giving us the pathway to survival the #ParisAgreement promised us.”

One of seven parallel talanoa sessions in Bonn on Sunday (Pic: IISD/ENB | Kiara Worth)

Where are we? #Rwanda ha a GDP growing at an average of 8% but it has been experiencing floods and landslides which killed 116 people and destroyed 1201 houses and 33 bridges only from Jan to April 2018. #SB48Bonn #Talanoa4Ambition #ParisAgreement #COP23 pic.twitter.com/ACQqblRckY

— Faustin Munyazikwiye (@FaustinMUNYAZIK) May 6, 2018

Fuelled by kava, Fiji’s mellow alternative to coffee, wildly diverse interest groups set aside hostilities to listen to one another.

Juan Pablo Osornio of Greenpeace said at a press briefing on Monday his favourite story came from Samoa. The island state’s representative talked not just about the impact of cyclones, but also how people used humour to cope with their fears. “She made it very organic, very personal and I really appreciated that.”

A case study about a Marshallese entrepreneur who boosted energy efficiency on his islands impressed Emmanuelle Pinault, diplomacy lead at megacities coalition C40. “We need to get out of our bubble and speak to the population,” she said, “that climate action is actually something that is creating jobs, that is creating equity, that is creating a lot of benefits for everyone.”

Drinking kava in between break from the Talanoa Dialogue in Bonn today. Working to see enhanced NDCs to put us on a 1.5 degrees pathway. Everyone to do their fair share in the light of their responsibility and capacity. Submission of enhanced 2020 NDCs. pic.twitter.com/q98FfLezSM

— Collin Beck, (@CollinBeck) May 6, 2018

To David Wei, representing Business for Sustainable Responsibility, Italy’s claim to be on track to overachieve its targets showed why countries and businesses alike should not be afraid to aim high. “The reason that story resonated with me is very honestly, businesses will set goals when they don’t know clearly how they will achieve those goals… more often than not, they find they can meet them early.”

Not everybody embraced the informal style. For every homespun anecdote, there was a familiar policy talking point.

Kim Carnahan of the US state department, for example, boasted of American leadership in clean technology innovation, listed shale drilling and coal power among the solutions to climate change – and skimmed over president Donald Trump’s plan to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement: “Our position on the Paris Agreement remains unchanged.”

Delegates are due to report back from the seven parallel talanoa sessions to a plenary on Tuesday.

Republish this article

The post Sunday talanoa: climate negotiators ‘talk to each other like people’ appeared first on Climate Home News.

Fiji’s presidency of the UN climate talks was an unprecedented opportunity for the Pacific island state to make its mark internationally.

But the sudden removal of chief negotiator Nazhat Shameem Khan last week, despite praise for her leadership, revealed a rift between the Geneva-based diplomat and capital Suva.

At the centre of the fight is a group of Australian and European consultants brought in to assist the Fijian government to deliver its biggest diplomatic challenge. Shameem Khan had increasingly objected to the prominent role these outsiders had within Fiji’s presidency.

In exclusive interviews with Climate Home News, insiders said this eventually led to her deposal, with prime minister Frank Bainimarama taking the consultants’ side. They raised concerns that Fiji ceding control to unaccountable professionals jeopardised a critical year of climate talks.

“In the world of [UN climate negotiations], to see a small island state in the presidency being closely managed and controlled by consultants from developed countries is not good for trust and goodwill,” a source from the Fijian delegation told Climate Home News. “But [the consultants] refused to take a back seat and we had difficulties in relation to this.”

Another member of the national staff, contacting CHN independently, said: “Most of their advice and interference was harmful rather than helpful… They undermined us and didn’t understand the local dimensions.”

Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

Fijian PM Statement 070318 by Megan Darby on Scribd

CHN asked Bainimarama’s office about the circumstances surrounding Shameem Khan’s removal, specifically about her objections regarding consultants. But no response was made to this point.

Writing to Climate Home News prior to publication, Bainimarama said any suggestion the country had been unduly influenced was “false and mischievous”. After this article was published, he issued a further statement, embedded above.

In a speech to the Fijian parliament on Monday, Bainimarama alluded to the deterioration in the relationship. After thanking Shameem Khan for her work, he said the country needed “a rejuvenated team unquestionably willing to work with all members of the COP23 [climate talks] presidency”.

Her replacement Luke Daunivalu, Fiji’s permanent representative to the UN in New York, was “a team player”, said Bainimarama, with the “personal qualities and experience to shape the consensus for more ambition the world needs to reach”.

Sources said Shameem Khan raised the concerns in this article with Bainimarama and his attorney general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum over the past six months, as well as directly asking the consultants to keep a low profile.

Lead diplomat: Bonn climate talks must ‘restate vision of Paris’

Fiji’s presidency of the climate talks centred on the UN conference of parties (Cop) in Bonn in November 2017 and will continue throughout 2018.

To help with the huge undertaking, the Fijian government hired consultants, including law firm Baker McKenzie, climate experts Systemiq and public relations specialists Qorvis. An Australian, John Connor, was appointed as executive director. It is not unusual for national delegations, particularly small or poor countries with limited capacity, to take external advice.

They were paid through funds donated by other countries, with the bulk coming from the developed world.

The consultants chalked up wins for Fiji, brokering a $50 million green bond for the island nation and coordinating “America’s Pledge” with California governor Jerry Brown and business leader Mike Bloomberg.

Initially, Shameem Khan and her team relied on consultants, UN officials and former presidents of the climate talks to bring them up to speed on the issues and processes. As they became more knowledgeable, though, they quickly came to question the consultants’ advice and level of influence over the strategy.

“The balance of power was wrong from day one,” said the first Fijian delegation source. “They were telling us how to run the Cop at a visionary level.”

Report: Fiji announces $50m ‘climate bond’ ahead of COP23 presidency

Ahead of the Bonn summit, China and other emerging economies raised concerns that consultants paid for by countries such as Australia were drafting statements for a Pacific island that were seen to favour developed world narratives. A non-Fijian source familiar with the matter told Climate Home News these tensions fuelled a spat over pre-2020 action that came to dominate the conference.

Closer to home, Pacific campaigners were outraged to discover Fiji was not planning to make “loss and damage”, UN jargon for support for the victims of climate disaster, a key theme of its presidency. They saw it as a top priority for the vulnerable region.

A briefing note circulated by Baker McKenzie’s Martijn Wilders in March 2017 explicitly ruled out loss and damage as a theme. “This will be considered in April but we need to take care for now as to what we promote,” he wrote in an accompanying email seen by Climate Home News.

“[The consultants] are so closely aligned to developed country policies,” said the first Fijian source. “They were trying to protect us from doing something very controversial, but unfortunately, they forgot the developing country views.”

A spokesperson for the presidency in Suva said the position on loss and damage was the result of “extensive consultation with a range of Fijian and international experts”. These included a past president of the climate talks, officials from the UN climate body and Shameem Khan. “It was a position that was conscious of the role of Cop president and mandate to operationalise the Paris Agreement” and “supported by all in the Fijian delegation”.

Report: No finance plan for climate change victims in draft UN decision

While these wider political fights played out, relations within the presidency became increasingly strained.

Shameem Khan’s allies say consultants frequently went over her head to Bainimarama’s number two, Sayed-Khaiyum, a government minister. A spokesperson for the presidency said Sayed-Khaiyum had never overruled Shameem Khan on negotiation issues.

At the Bonn summit itself, the rift hampered communications. Bainimarama’s speeches were co-written by Graham Davis of PR firm Qorvis and UK-based consultant James Cameron, a longtime adviser of island states in climate negotiations.

Cameron was attending the delegation’s morning meetings but had been largely relegated from the negotiating rooms. According to the first Fijian source, Shameem Khan was not consulted on the speeches and they did not reflect the state of play of negotiations. “It was a real embarrassment. When I look back, it is a miracle Cop23 had any successes at all,” said the source.

Davis said Shameem Khan had “ample opportunity” to raise concerns about the content of the speeches with him and had not done so. Cameron declined to comment.

“As the prime minister’s principal speechwriter for the past five years, I have consistently conveyed the Fijian government’s advocacy of the need for more ambitious climate action,” Davis told Climate Home News by email.

It is not the first time Qorvis’ influence on Fiji’s government has been questioned. In November, a former public servant told Australia’s ABC he had lost his job after refusing to become a “lackey” for the PR firm.

Report: Poland to put ‘common sense’ over climate ambition as host of critical UN talks

Fiji passes the baton this year to Poland, which is hosting the next climate summit in December. Bainimarama told parliament Fiji would continue to preside over a mass outreach programme, known as the “talanoa dialogue”, in partnership with Poland after its formal term ended.

“Because the Talanoa concept was Fiji’s idea, we will continue to lead and shape that dialogue,” he said, “in a way that no Pacific nation has ever had the opportunity to do before.”

Sources on both sides of the internal dispute raised fears that without Fiji’s partnership, Poland would take a less progressive approach, in light of its domestic attachment to coal.

Pacific campaigners expressed concerns at the impact of Shameem Khan’s removal. “Her voice will be missed,” said the Pacific Island Climate Action Network in a press release on Friday, urging Daunivalu to keep the design of the talanoa dialogue “fully with Fijians”.

Citing the most ambitious warming limit in the Paris Agreement, policy officer Genevieve Jiva said: “It is crucial that the talanoa dialogue is focused on ambition and aimed at keeping global temperature rise to 1.5C. For Pacific islanders, nothing less is acceptable because we are fighting for our survival.”

Republish this article

This article was updated on 7/03/2017 to include a statement from prime minister Frank Bainimarama

The post Fiji climate lead challenged consultants’ influence before losing job appeared first on Climate Home News.

Fijian diplomat Nazhat Shameem Khan left her role as chief climate negotiator on Wednesday, midway through the country’s presidency of UN climate talks.

In a surprise move, the experienced diplomat is to be replaced by Luke Daunivalu, Fiji’s deputy permanent representative to the UN.

Shameem Khan presided over the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn in November, drawing on Pacific storytelling traditions in a bid to make the process more inclusive.

She was instrumental in shaping the “talanoa dialogue”, a year-long stocktake of international efforts to avert dangerous climate change that is just getting started. On Tuesday, Shameem Khan was still tweeting about it.

We suspect there’s more to this story. What have we missed? Email: md@climatehomenews.org

Prime minister Frank Bainimarama’s office gave no reason for the personnel change. In a statement, the government thanked Shameem Khan for her contribution and said she would return to her duties as permanent representative to the UN in Geneva full time.

“Ambassador Daunivalu is a qualified replacement and I am confident that the leadership and teamwork he will bring to the role of chief negotiator will strengthen our campaign for maximum ambition and maximum climate action all the way to COP24 [UN climate summit in Poland] and beyond,” the statement said.

Daunivalu was responsible for finance-related negotiations as part of Fiji’s team in Bonn.

Neither Daunivalu or Shameem Khan could be reached for comment.

Republish this article

The post Fiji chief negotiator replaced midway through UN climate presidency appeared first on Climate Home News.

With technical support from the World Bank, the Pacific island state aims to raise 100 million Fiji dollars ($50m) to build resilience to climate change and support a shift to 100% renewable energy.

In a statement issued by the bank, Bainimarama touted the move as an example of financial innovation to protect the vulnerable.

“The Fijian people, along with every Pacific islander, live on the front lines of climate change,” Bainimarama said. “The rising seas, changing weather patterns and severe weather events are threatening our development, our security and the Fijian way of life, along with the very existence of some of our low-lying neighbours.

“I have made access to climate finance a key pillar of our upcoming COP23 presidency, and we are proud to set an example to other climate-vulnerable nations by issuing this green bond to fund our work to boost climate resilience across Fiji.”

Fiji is recovering from a direct hit by Cyclone Winston in 2016, the strongest tropical storm recorded in the southern hemisphere. The economic losses were estimated at nearly a third of the country’s GDP – and climate change is predicted to increase the intensity of storms.

Green bonds are a mechanism to raise funds for climate-friendly projects, offering a kind of low-risk package that appeals to institutional investors. A small but emerging sector of the market, “green” bonds are set to reach $134.9 billion in value this year, according to the World Bank.

Profile: The Fijian negotiator to lead a ‘visionary’ COP

The announcement coincided with Fiji hosting a preparatory meeting for next month’s UN climate summit, which Bainimarama will preside over in Bonn, Germany.

In a speech to the “pre-COP” meeting, Bainimarama stressed that parties to the Paris climate agreement must hold themselves to its toughest warming limit.

“We can no longer ignore this (climate) crisis,” he said, as reported by Reuters. “An absolute dedication to meet the 1.5C target is what we need and what we must take to Bonn.”

That is at the higher end of the range of ambition expressed in the Paris, where 195 countries agreed to hold global temperature rise from pre-industrial levels “well below 2C”.

A study last month claimed it was still geophysically possible to stay within 1.5C, albeit politically and technologically challenging. Other analysts are sceptical, given the world has already warmed by 1C and coal power plants are still being built, locking in future carbon emissions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is due to release a special report on the 1.5C threshold next year, summarising the available evidence.

Fiji’s government has campaigned hard at home to enrol the population in the COP23 presidency, hosting community awareness-raising events. On Tuesday, as the pre-COP meeting closed, the Fiji Sun reflected this enthusiasm, running a front page dominated by the words: “Bonn here we come”.

The post Fiji announces $50m ‘climate bond’ ahead of COP23 presidency appeared first on Climate Home News.

But during a year in which president Donald Trump vowed to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the diplomat who will preside over negotiations reconsidered.

Nazhat Shameem Khan, chief negotiator for Fiji, said she had received a message from countries around the world that the 23rd conference of the parties (COP) needed to be “visionary COP”.

“As the year wore on, it seemed necessary for the COP to restate the vision of Paris. Paris needs to work and we continue to believe in Paris,” she tells Climate Home by phone from Geneva, where she has represented Fiji at the UN since 2014. “Every single outcome from COP23 should be measured against its ability to deliver this vision.”

In Paris, 195 countries agreed to hold global warming “well below 2C” and aim for a 1.5C limit. The Fijian presidency exclusively refers to the tougher 1.5C threshold. This year’s summit, led by Fiji but held for practical reasons in Bonn, Germany, must show a collective determination to put that goal into action, Shameem Khan says.

China and the EU, both mooted as contenders to fill the leadership void left by the US, disagree over the way nations report their progress on cutting emissions. The EU is pushing for universal standards, while China argues that developing countries should be subject to lighter requirements. Shameem Khan says the meeting must bring the sides closer on this tense issue, ready to finalise a framework next year, or risk sending a signal “the world is divided”.

Another core task for COP23 will be designing next year’s “facilitative dialogue”, a political moment for assessing progress (or lack thereof) towards the Paris goals. “Do we need to enhance ambition? We do,” says Shameem Khan.

The Trump administration, representing the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is pulling in the opposite direction. It is axing climate funds, reversing climate policies and promising to revive an ailing coal industry.

Under the rules of the Paris Agreement, the US cannot formally exit until 2020. In the meantime, the state department has indicated it will take part in climate talks to “protect ongoing US interests”. Trump is dangling the possibility of re-engaging on terms “more favourable” to the US – widely interpreted as backsliding on commitments made under Barack Obama.

Climate Weekly: Sign up for your essential climate news update

It is a tough backdrop for the first Pacific island nation to preside over the annual summit – and Shameem Khan, a newcomer to the process. “We should be optimistic about the role that the US can play in discussions, whatever they decide to do finally,” she insists.

Every COP presidency uses buzzwords like “inclusive” and “trust”, sometimes linked to a specific cultural tradition. For South Africa, it was indaba. For Fiji, it is talanoa, a Pacific concept of informal storytelling that Shameem Khan says builds empathy and consensus for collective action.

Keeping 197 parties, from petropowers to penniless war zones, on a constructive footing is never easy. Trump’s “America first” stance will stretch talanoa to the limit. Pressed on how she can reconcile Trump’s position with the Paris vision of ratcheting up ambition, Shameem Khan lights on a provocative analogy.

“You can have a dialogue with somebody who is an axe murderer,” she says, swiftly adding that might be a bad example. “Please, let’s just talk. This is how embracing talanoa is.”

The Fijian government Shameem Khan represents is not always so tolerant. Three opposition lawmakers have been suspended for offences as trivial as calling a minister a “fool”. The editor and publisher of the Fiji Times are barred from leaving the country pending trial for sedition over a letter they published.

Prime minister Frank Bainimarama originally came to power in a 2006 bloodless coup, the fourth overthrow of government in two decades. The former navy chief cemented his leadership with an election in 2014, which international observers deemed credible.

Still, complaints of media suppression and human rights abuses crop up. Last year, Amnesty International reported a culture of police torture the government had failed to stamp out. Underlying tensions between indigenous Fijians and a sizeable ethnic Indian minority – to which Shameem Khan belongs – persist.

Shameem Khan’s role in the 2006 coup, as a high court judge at the time, is the most controversial episode of her career. Critics accuse her of legitimising the military intervention, which she denies. Rather, as the second most senior judge in the country at the time, she says she was honouring a prior agreement among the judiciary to keep the courts functioning through any such crisis.

Declining to comment on specific cases, Shameem Khan says: “I am actually very proud of Fiji’s human rights record. I think we have a very strong constitution… Education is now free for the first time in our history. These are enormous achievements, which many countries have not achieved yet.”

Bonn COP23 climate talks

When? 6-17 November, 2017

Where? Bonn, Germany

What? A meeting of 197 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, where the implementation of the Paris climate agreement will be the major point of negotiations.

Our team will be watching everything, not just Donald Trump news! How to keep up? Sign up to Climate Home’s newsletter, Facebook and Twitter feeds for the most in-depth, dedicated reporting from this critical meeting.

The lawyer-turned-diplomat is at her most animated when talking about sexism. When she took a job, aged 22, in Fiji’s public prosecutions office, she recalls there were posters on the walls of scantily clad women draped over cars.

Shameem Khan had an uphill struggle to be taken seriously, becoming the first woman to direct that office and then Fiji’s first female high court judge. And she offered a hand up to the women behind her.

“A woman has this incredible duty to transform when she is in a position of empowerment herself,” she says. “Because she knows what it is like to be the underdog… when she arrives herself at a position of empowerment, she must look around the workplace and say: ‘this is not going to happen on my watch’.”

As director of public prosecutions, it meant revamping the recruitment process so no female applicant was asked about her marital status or family plans.

Fiji’s climate leadership: ‘We are all in the same canoe’

At the climate summit, she is championing the launch of a gender action plan. This, Shameem Khan is determined, will have influence over the core negotiations. “The worst thing about any new platform or plan is when it is tucked away in a corner and is just platitudes,” she says.

Just as women may find themselves talked over in meetings, Fiji – population 900,000 – can struggle to be heard in the great game of geopolitics. But when it comes to climate change, they speak from hard-earned experience. Their vulnerability to sea level rise, intensifying tropical storms and drinking water scarcity makes them authoritative advocates for higher ambition.

In Fiji, entire villages are moving to higher ground, beyond the reach of increasingly frequent coastal flooding. Pacific neighbours like the Marshall Islands, its highest point 10 metres above sea level, don’t have that option.

“We are going to bring to the negotiations the sense of urgency that the Pacific islands know,” says Shameem Khan. “People are really worried about the way things are going.”

Urgency means, Bainimarama said in his recent speech to the UN general assembly, fixing 1.5C as the upper limit on global warming. It’s an ambitious – and many scientists believe unattainable – goal; the mercury has already risen by 1C since the start of the industrial revolution.

At the same time, the presidency is responsible for brokering compromise between diverse interests. Its advocacy is necessarily tempered with pragmatism.

“We understand that the presidency is there for everybody,” says Shameem Khan. “We cannot put the Pacific over the priorities of any other region.”

Report: Fiji invites Trump to visit climate-hit Pacific islands

Their approach to “loss and damage”, the strand of talks on impacts of climate change beyond what people can adapt to, is illustrative of the balance. It is a contentious issue, with vulnerable countries desperate for financial support but industrialised countries refusing to accept liability.

Bainimarama and Shameem Khan use their platform to highlight damage already caused to people’s lives and livelihoods by extreme weather linked to climate change. They trail the launch of an insurance initiative to help communities bounce back from such events. But they steer clear of more radical proposals from Pacific civil society to make polluters pay.

Keeping the Paris “vision” alive in the face of US regression will require all the technical nous and political savvy Shameem Khan can muster.

“This is quite an enormous undertaking,” she says. “I have not really come across anything quite as complex and all-embracing as this. I am totally aware of this enormous responsibility that Fiji has taken on.

“We cannot change the world on our own [but] in this exercise, we have an opportunity to work with the world on something that is important for all of us.”

The post Lead diplomat: Bonn climate talks must ‘restate vision of Paris’ appeared first on Climate Home News.

Citing devastation wreaked by hurricanes Irma and Maria, Frank Bainimarama urged leaders to consider the economic toll of ignoring global warming.

Bainimarama said: “If we view this as some sort of negotiation in which each country tries to preserve its narrow national interests, we will all lose. We will be powerless to protect our own people from the consequences of climate change.”

In a veiled dig at US president Donald Trump, he warned that protecting a national industry or short term economic interests would come at a cost.

Trump has promised to put coal miners back to work and threatened to withdraw from the Paris climate deal, potentially reengaging on terms more favourable to the US.

At the UN general assembly, Trump emphasised his priorities lay at home. “In America, the people govern, the people rule, and the people are sovereign,” he said. “As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you, as the leaders of your countries will always, and should always, put your countries first.”

Comment: Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama’s speech to the UNGA, in full

But Bainimarama, who will preside over COP23 climate negotiations in Bonn, highlighted that the southern US has taken a hit from some of the worst storms on record in recent weeks. Meanwhile, Fiji is recovering from 2016’s Cyclone Winston, which wiped out a third of its economy. Scientists say warming seas give tropical storms extra destructive energy.

“As incoming COP president, I am deeply conscious of the need to lead a global response to the underlying causes of these events,” said Bainimarama.

He set out some details of Fiji’s vision for COP23, the first such event to be led by a Pacific island nation. For logistical reasons, it is being held at UN climate headquarters in Bonn, Germany, but will showcase Pacific cultural traditions.

An ocean-going canoe or “drua” will have pride of place in the main hall, to remind delegates, as Bainimarama put it: “We are all in the same canoe.”

Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan is lined up to lead formal negotiations in the Bula zone, drawing on the Pacific “talenoa” spirit of constructive dialogue.

The Bonn zone will offer space for campaigners, business people and subnational policymakers to connect, convened by “climate champion” Inia Seruiratu.

Bainimarama also expressed gratitude towards California governor Jerry Brown, appointed as special envoy for states and regions. Brown has brought together the “Under 2 coalition”, which covers 39% of the global economy.

The post Fiji’s climate leadership: ‘We are all in the same canoe’ appeared first on Climate Home News.

Mr President, I want to begin by congratulating you on assuming the presidency of the 72^nd session and to wish you every success in the year ahead. As we all know, the global community faces a great many challenges, of which climate change is only one. But I’m sure that we all want to send a message of solidarity and sympathy tonight to the millions of people in the Caribbean who are again suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Maria. It is an especially cruel ordeal so soon after Hurricane Irma carved a path of destruction through the Caribbean and southern United States. And the thoughts and prayers of all of us are with those who are affected.

The Fijian people share a special sense of solidarity with those who have either lost loved ones or their homes and possessions in these events. Last year, we lost 44 of our own people and a third of our GDP  when Fiji was struck by the biggest cyclone ever to make landfall in the southern hemisphere. So as incoming COP President, I am deeply conscious of the need to lead a global response to the underlying causes of these events. And the appalling suffering in the Caribbean and the US reminds us all that there is no time to waste.

Mr President, I also want to pay tribute to your predecessor, Peter Thomson – the first Fijian to occupy the presidency of the General Assembly. Ambassador Thomson carried out his role with great distinction. And I especially want to thank him for the role he has played in bringing the parlous state of our oceans to global attention. The Ocean Conference in June that Fiji co-hosted with Sweden was an unqualified success. As a global community, we have begun the massive task of restoring the health of our oceans. And to tackle the overfishing that is stripping our oceans of marine life and depriving many millions of people of a precious resource, now and into the future.

I salute the United Nations for appointing Ambassador Thomson as Special Envoy for Oceans. It is an honour for Fiji to have one of our own leading this vitally important effort to ensure the implementation of a crucial sustainable development goal.

Mr President, next year will mark the 40^th anniversary of Fiji’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping. As a small nation, we have suffered a great deal of pain from the loss of some of our finest troops on peacekeeping duties over the years. But this contribution is a very important part of how we see ourselves as a nation – our men and women in uniform serving the global community by protecting ordinary people in troubled parts of the world.

For 40 years, we have helped to make the world more secure. And now we are determined to make a successful contribution to the wider security of the planet through our leadership of COP23.

Mr President, there is no escaping the fact that climate change is as great a threat to global security as any source of conflict. Millions of people are already on the move because of drought and the changes to agriculture threatening their food security. Throughout history, we know that human beings will fight over access to water. And unless we tackle the underlying causes of climate change, we already know that some places will become unlivable and others will disappear altogether.

In my own region, three of our neighbours are at risk, which is why Fiji has offered to give refuge to the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu in a worse case in which their homes sink beneath the waves altogether.

For the Fijian people, climate change is real. It affects our lives altogether. Whether it is the whole villages we are moving out of the way of the rising seas; the loss of our ancestral burial grounds; the salinity affecting our crops; or the constant threat of destruction to homes and infrastructure of the kind we experienced last year.

The reason our hearts go out to the people of the Caribbean right now is not only because we can empathise with them but because we fear the same fate. And I say to the nations of the world: Imagine another third of your GDP destroyed within a year or so. Imagine another cyclone scoring a direct hit and wiping out decades of development.

It is clear, Mr President, that global warming changes our very understanding of what our national interests are. It challenges us to understand that the only way for every nation to put itself first is to lock arms with all other nations and go forward together. Anything else is self-destructive—for the world and for each nation. It may be tempting for political leaders to show that they are protecting some national industry or near-term economic goal, but at what cost? The wise leader must work hard to convince the people to embrace the path we know we must take.

There is no choice to be made between prosperity and a healthy climate. For how prosperous can we be if we must devote our resources to relocating entire populations or reinforcing major cities? What does it cost to find new places to farm? And what about the consequences for global and regional security if nations begin to compete for safe land or have conflicts over the movements of climate refugees? It is obvious that we need to cooperate.

We need to learn from each other and to use the world’s considerable resources to do the most good for the most people. We need to continue to create prosperity and to ensure the well-being of the nations and ecosystems of the world.  If we view this as some sort of negotiation in which each country tries to preserve its narrow national interests, we will all lose. We will be powerless to protect our own people from the consequences of climate change. Collective action is the only way forward. Wise men and women will understand that.

Mr President, that is why I took on the role of COP President, why I eagerly embrace becoming the first Pacific Islander to do so. Because it is about ensuring that my own people flourish and prosper now and into the future. And by collaborating with the other nations of the world through this process, we ensure that together, humanity can flourish and prosper.

Mr President, the ball will be passed to me and Team Fiji in Bonn in November by Morocco. And we thank the Moroccan Presidency of COP22 for making such great strides down the field towards the end game of fully implementing the Paris Agreement. Next year, Fiji will pass the ball to Poland. And I want to assure the Presidency of COP24 that Fiji will be supporting you all the way to the line.

Mr President, our own presidency would not be possible without the wonderful assistance of Germany. We simply could not have staged an event of this size and complexity in Fiji. But out of necessity, we have forged a bond with Germany

that is an example to the world of how countries at opposite ends of the earth and of vastly different means and size can work effectively towards a common goal. We did it with Sweden with the Ocean Conference and we are equally proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Germany to deliver what the Paris Agreement was meant to do.

Mr President, Fiji is deeply conscious that governments alone cannot meet this challenge. Which is why we are placing such emphasis on the notion of a Grand Coalition of governments at every level, civil society, the private sector and ordinary citizens moving this agenda forward. I am reaching out to governors, mayors, leaders of every sort across our societies. People of faith. People on the front line of the climate struggle. Women. And the young people who represent our future.

Mr President, we are going to do things in Bonn differently. The formal proceedings will be led by our Chief Negotiator, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan, and I will play a roving role. I will be on hand to resolve any difficulties in the formal negotiations. But to reflect the importance of our Grand Coalition, I will be travelling between the two zones in Bonn – the formal negotiations and the climate action zone – with my good friend, our Climate Champion, Inia Seruiratu, and my fellow Pacific leaders. I am counting on them to help me get the message across that only by working together can we move this process forward further and faster.

In the Climate Action Zone – the Bonn Zone – Fiji and Germany are bringing together all those who have a part to play in making this Grand Coalition a great transformation. Climate activists, companies at the cutting edge of technology, artists and creative people, dancers and performers. And we will be stamping this zone with the Fijian Bula Spirit of optimism and inclusiveness that has made our islands famous the world over.

In the formal zone – the Bula Zone – we want the nations of the world to embrace what we call the talanoa Spirit in Fiji and certain other Pacific countries – a dialogue based on trust, empathy and the collective good. In our experience, it is the best way of getting things done, especially in difficult circumstances. Engagement that is respectful, honest, cooperative and acknowledges that no-one, no matter how powerful, can solve the climate challenge on their own. For humanity to survive, flourish and prosper, we have no alternative but to cooperate.

Mr President, we have already established a solid foundation for our work as President. The formal negotiations are progressing. And we are looking forward to ministers and their delegations and representatives of civil society coming to Fiji next month for our Pre-COP. We are already delighted by the energy and sense of purpose of the leaders who make up the Grand Coalition.

I’m especially grateful to the Special Envoy for States and Regions that I have appointed to help me -Governor Jerry Brown of California who heads an impressive list of political leaders around the world in the Under 2 Coalition.

Mr President, as we all know, the Paris Agreement calls for global warming to be kept well under two degrees over that of the industrial age and as close as possible to 1.5 degrees. A year ago, I stood here before being appointed President of COP23 and called for 1.5 degrees to be our target. I meant it then and I mean it now. There is an urgent need to fix this number as our objective and as soon as possible.

I certainly carry with me the authority of the Pacific to pursue this objective. And at this point, I want to pay a fulsome tribute to a Pacific islander who we have just lost but whose legacy will live on in these negotiations. Tony De Brum of the Marshall Islands took a very powerful slogan to Paris two years ago: “One point five to stay alive”. We intend to honour Tony’s legacy. And I intend to draw upon his spirit during my presidency.

Mr President, as well as ensuring decisive action to limit global warming, we must also do a lot more to make nations and communities more resilient to the effects of climate change. We know we are all going to have to adapt. But we must make special provision for those who are most vulnerable and have the least resources to cope with the catastrophic consequences we are witnessing all around us.

We are pleased to be part of a serious engagement with governments and the private sector to secure innovative and more affordable access to insurance to enable those affected by disaster to recover more quickly. It is a question of fairness and economic development. Because without insurance, restoration and rebuilding is simply too great a burden for many nations and communities.

We are also encouraged by the rapid development of clean, affordable alternative energy solutions for countries across the world. This offers great promise that we can achieve this 1.5 degree target and prosper.

Mr President, I am in no doubt that the role that I have embraced as COP23 President is the most important any Fijian leader has undertaken. I appeal to my fellow Pacific leaders to support me as we tackle the greatest challenge to our own region and the greatest challenge to the world. I want to acknowledge the work of the Alliance of Small Island States these past 30 years, which has consistently looked after the interests of our people. And has reminded the world that our interests are the interests of every global citizen.

We are all in the same canoe. Which is why we will have a Fijian ocean going canoe – a drua – in the main hall in Bonn to remind everyone of the need to fill its sail with a collective determination to move this process forward. To deliver on the promise we made to each other in Paris.

And to all the nations that have yet to ratify the Paris Agreement, please do so.

So, Mr President, I appeal to the nations of the world and all the leaders of the Grand Coalition to support me. I draw my power as COP president from you and I will do everything in my power to use it wisely.

Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you.

The post Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama’s speech to the UNGA – in full appeared first on Climate Home News.

The tiny Pacific Island state will host the 2017 meeting at the UN climate body’s headquarters in Bonn, Germany, where talks will continue on developing a set of rules for the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“Our Presidency will keep the interests of all nations – including those that are low-lying and vulnerable – at the forefront of our negotiations,” Frank Bainimarama said.

“We are also focused on turning the words and commitments of the Paris Agreement into measurable actions on the part of all nations, and are calling for transparent systems of accountability and practical outcomes to ensure the agreement is a success.”

There was no mention of the US in Bainimarama’s short statement, which was released after meetings with UN climate chief Patricia Espinosa.

Report: Trump planning review of UN treaties, funding

Intense speculation surrounds continued US participation in the Paris climate deal, which president Donald Trump threatened to “cancel” during his campaign.

Myron Ebell, a former advisor to President Trump told media on Monday he would stick to that pledge, and that the country could pull out imminently.

“The US will change course on climate policy… Trump wants to unleash American energy production,” said Ebell, who was part of the president’s transition team after he won office.

Last November Bainimarama issued a personal invitation to Trump to visit Fiji and see for himself the impacts of rising sea levels and extreme weather linked to climate change.

“I again appeal to the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, to show leadership on this issue by abandoning his current position that man-made climate change is a hoax,” said Bainimarama.

“I say to the American people: you came to save us then and it is time for you to help save us now,” he said, referring to Washington’s support for Fiji during the second world war.

Weekly briefing: Sign up for your essential climate politics update

The post Fiji says 2017 climate summit to focus on vulnerable nations appeared first on Climate Home News.

Anne Dunn, a 23-year-old law graduate who has lived in the US, previously won Miss Fiji and Miss Hibiscus beauty pageants.

Fiji, a Pacific island nation vulnerable to sea level rise and tropical storms, will preside over the 2017 round of UN climate talks in Bonn.

“I am very excited to be chosen as the ambassador for climate change. It is one of the biggest issues faced by every country in the region and I have decided to take it on,” Dunn said, as reported in the Jet newspaper.

“I do realise that there are many non-governmental organisations and programmes within communities and government to address the issue. I hope to involve myself in one of those projects and do something that would help changing at least one activity or one way that climate change affects us as a region.”

The post Fiji appoints beauty queen as climate ambassador appeared first on Climate Home News.

Kalisi holds her son Tuvosa, 3, in the remnants of her house in Rakiraki District in Ra province in Fiji (Pic: UNICEF)

By Dunya Maumoon

Today Fiji will make a formal appeal to international donors for assistance in rebuilding after being hit by one of the strongest tropical storms in history.

Cyclone Winston, which slammed into the Pacific Island nation on 19 February is just the latest in a series of extreme weather events to impact small island nations.

But, even by in a world increasingly accustomed to “super storms,” Winston stands out. It formed between Fiji and Vanuatu eight days prior to landfall and followed a circuitous path that surprised veteran meteorologists and computer models alike.

Travelling over waters fuelled by strong El Niño conditions, with sea surface temperatures at times in excess of 30 degrees Celsius, the storm skirted Tonga on 17 February.

It tore off roofs off houses and causing widespread flooding before turning back on itself as a Category 4 storm and crossing by the island again on its way toward Fiji—building in strength with every rotation.

By the time it hit, winds were clocked in excess of 300 kilometers per hour, the strongest ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.

Comment: Climate victims and investors need Paris ratification

When it was over, 42 people were dead and at least US$486 million in damage had been inflicted, roughly 10 percent of Fiji’s GDP or the equivalent of 15 Hurricane Katrinas hitting the United States at once.

Before and after Cyclone Winston we heard the familiar refrain: though it is impossible to attribute any single weather event to climate change, most scientists agree that storms will become more powerful as global temperatures rise.

But, while I can appreciate using caution when discussing complex meteorological phenomenon, we must not lose sight of the big picture.

In the past year since Maldives became chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a coalition of 44 island and low-lying coastal nations, we have witnessed one record storm after the other: Cyclone Pam, Typhoon Maysak, Hurricane Patricia, and Hurricane Joaquin, to name a few.

Kolora, 26, holds her daughter Semaima, 2, in what is left of her home in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston in Rakiraki district in Ra province in Fiji (Pic: UNICEF)

It also happened to be the warmest year on record. I think that is more than enough evidence to conclude that these are not isolated events.

We may not be able to predict exactly when or where they will strike but we know that there is a new paradigm with storms along the world’s tropical belt, which happens to be the latitudes of the AOSIS membership.

We also know that small islands are particularly vulnerable to impacts given our low elevations, small size, and geographic isolation. Climate change is happening and we have a long way to go to prepare for the new realities of life in a warming world.

However, that is not to say that we don’t know how to get ready. In fact, if not for the early warning systems and emergency plans Fiji had in place before Winston came ashore, the death and destruction likely would have been far worse.

And the Paris climate change agreement (set for signing in April), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (which is now being operationalised), and the SAMOA Pathway for sustainable development in Small Island Developing States all contain strong calls for disaster preparedness.

But full implementation for these processes remains elusive and powerful storms aren’t going away any time soon, no matter how quickly we cut the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.

Makelesi, 7, standing in destroyed library of Nabau District School in Ra Province, Fiji (Pic: UNICEF)

I learned first hand after the Indian Ocean tsunami hit the Maldives in 2004, how critical timely international assistance is to making countries impacted by catastrophe whole again.

I also learned how strong our people are in the face of adversity.

In the days after Cyclone Winston, when damage assessment crews were fanned out across Fiji, a striking image emerged of a scene of near total destruction on one of the country’s islands: In the foreground, houses were levelled and debris covered the sand.

Behind that, among a stand of coconuts, Fiji’s flag was flying. We are stronger than these disasters. With help, Fiji and islands around the world can prepare for the new realities of climate change and build back better when disaster strikes.

Dunya Maumoon is Foreign Minister for the Maldives, which chairs the Alliance of Small Island States

The post Fiji needs help after Cyclone Winston, a portent of climate chaos to come appeared first on Climate Home News.

Fiji’s storm-hit coast (credit: Fiji Government/ NZ Defence Force)

By Alex Pashley

Preventative measures taken by Fiji following a super storm in 2012 “significantly” lowered cyclone Winston’s death count this weekend, according to disaster officials.

The category-five storm left a trail of destruction from Saturday as winds reaching 180 miles per hour tore through the Pacific archipelago, destroying homes, roads and power lines.

At least 42 people have died, authorities said on Wednesday, with some remote areas yet to be reached.

Fatalities could have been “significantly higher if the Government, the National Disaster Management Centre and the Meteorological Service had not united in their efforts to disseminate warnings,” head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser said on Monday.

Planning systems and a personal appeal by the prime minister ensured Fijians sheltered in over 730 evacuation centres as storm surges battered the islands.

https://twitter.com/DanLindsey77/status/701631419680817153

Fiji had “built back better” after cyclone Evan in 2012, said an UNISDR official, which in 2015 launched the global Sendai framework to limit impacts.

“The devastation is terrible, the economic losses will be significant and there is a lot of damage to the housing stock, but the number one target of the global plan for reducing disaster risk is to reduce human losses,” he said.

Last October, Fiji’s minister for disaster management said early warning systems were vital in the face of growing storms, but stressed gaps remained in data and monitoring.

A climate plan submitted to the UN last year called for funding to help ensure more buildings are cyclone-proof, and suggested a new disaster-management strategy should be completed by the end of 2016.

More than half the country’s 900,000 population were in areas affected by strong winds and rain during Winston, believed to be the country’s most powerful ever cyclone.

Its changing path had spared more built-up areas, Maciu Mokelevu, a Red Cross coordinator in capital Suva told Climate Home by phone.

Report: Countries agree UN plan in Sendai to save lives from disasters
UN: Weather and climate dominate 2015 disaster trends

A rampant El Nino has stoked extreme weather events around the world, with 92% of natural disasters in 2015 to blame, according to the UN disaster agency. But fatalities from the 90 major storms fell to record lows of 996, compared with the ten-year average of 17,778.

A coalition of countries vulnerable to climate change said cyclone Winston highlighted the urgency to tackle global warming and implement a newly-signed global pact to cut emissions.

“This is another painful reminder of why global action on climate change is so urgent and vital,” said Emmanuel de Guzman, chair of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an alliance of 43 countries.

“At just one degree of warming experienced today, vulnerable countries continue to bear the brunt of record breaking storms, flooding and weather extremes.

“We’re expecting all countries to collaborate to safeguard our people by keeping warming to the minimum, which means living up to the 1.5 degrees limit enshrined in the Paris Agreement.”

Last week Fiji became the first country to ratify the Paris deal, which is scheduled to come into effect from 2020.

The post Early warnings pay off as cyclone smashes Fiji appeared first on Climate Home News.

The Pacific Islanders team, comprising Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and the Cook Islands, competed from 2004-08, although nations represent themselves at World Cups (Wikimedia commons)

By Alex Pashley

Pinpricks in the deep drink of the Pacific, three archipelago nations embark on an odyssey on Friday to clinch the Webb Ellis Cup from rugby union’s goliaths.

Dwarfed by big countries in everything but brawn, cash-strapped Fiji and Samoa seek to improve on three quarter final finishes, with the former kicking off the event against host England that evening.

Tiny Tonga, meanwhile, is vying to advance from the pool stages for the first time.

The outings over the next six weeks shines a light on the mini-developing states, home to about 1.2 million people.

Amid the hoopla of a major sporting event, it perhaps offers a timely platform to highlight their vulnerability to climate change, months before a crunch UN summit to cap global warming.

A stirring new documentary, Pacific Warriors, champions their imprint on the game.

A fifth of the players at the last tournament were either born or descended from the three islands, with this year the number set to be even higher, director James Marquand tells RTCC.

“We set out to make a film that can make the Tier 1 rugby fans gain an insight into what these countries with these amazing players go through to compete,” he says.

The film includes light-hearted stories of Tonga’s banned plan to send its players onto the field with green hair at the 2007 event, an ad for bookmakers Paddy Power; or Samoan squad members sneaking out to buy 50kg of chicken from KFC on the pretence of a trip to the cinema.

Report: Tonga’s King talks climate change with Pope Francis

In spite of minimal resources and little preparation in comparison to wealthier Tier 1 countries – the ‘six nations’ (England, France, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, Wales), plus Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – the countries continue to churn out world-class players famed for their explosive power and deft ball-handling.

Hardy seafarers, the Polynesians have endured life on volcanic islands for millennia which prepared them for the hard-hitting sport.

Export of players to foreign leagues, including America’s NFL have meant a stream of remittances, which aid the agriculture and tourism-based economies.

But aside poverty, the region is acutely threatened by runaway global warming, as storms set to grow fiercer and king tides destroy crops and spoil drinking water.

Report: Kiribati president calls for moratorium on coal mines

Tonga is the second most vulnerable country to natural disasters, according to the 2013 World Risk Report.

“These people live on great mountain tops higher than the Himalayas. Though they are in the middle of the Pacific ocean, and there’s not much left of the peak,” adds Marquand, a former player at Coventry-based Wasps RFC.

Low-lying neighbours Tuvalu and Vanuatu were pummelled by Cyclone Pam in March. Creeping sea levels have forced Kirabati to buy land in Fiji as an insurance policy if the island becomes inhabitable.

The present threat has given such countries an outsized voice at UN-backed climate talks.

But collective slowness to commit to cuts in carbon emissions could submerge some islands all together.

Report: Vanuatu backs plan to sue major carbon polluters for climate damage

A Pacific Islands climate forum in September was overshadowed by mocking comments by Australian environment ministers. Weak pledges by New Zealand to rein in emissions have been classed as “a slap in the face” to such dwellers.

A pledged fund to pay for climate adaptation, such as coastal defences and desalinisation devices, is in development, but is years off providing essential funds.

While after appearing light years apart, developed and developing countries have edged closer to a deal on ‘climate compensation’ at the UN summit in Paris in December.

Fiji, Samoa and Tonga tower, relatively speaking, over the likes of Tuvalu, which peaks at 4m.

Those volcanic islands reach 1,300m above sea level. Yet as climate impacts ramp up over tens of World Cups, will that fan further emigration and hobble their capacity to compete?

That hinges on how countries’ mobilise finance for the climate vulnerable and rein in emissions. But before that, there’s a world tournament to be played.

“Their contribution to the sport I think exceeds any other part of the world. To lose them would be unthinkable, an absoluter disaster,” Marquand adds.

Pacific Warriors is available to download from the Itunes or Amazon online stores now

The post Climate warrior Pacific islands set eyes on Rugby World Cup appeared first on Climate Home News.

Young people from small island nations face migration in the future if climate change continues (Pic: E W/Flickr)

By Krishneil Narayan in Fiji

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that generation.” Nelson Mandela, 1918 – 2013

The small islands in the Pacific are home to vibrant and distinct cultures, heritage, rich ecosystems, biodiversity and incredible landscapes. I am fortunate to call one of these island countries my home.

But because of the small geographical nature, the challenges our island nations face are many. One of these leading development challenges is climate change.

Climate change is not a distant threat but very much a reality for our island homes.

In the Pacific, climate change is already having an impact on people’s lives, pushing them into deeper hardships, from sea level rise contaminating fresh water reserves to increased intensity of extreme weather events, from food security to possible relocation, increased health risks, coastal erosion and ocean acidification.

Special case

Small island developing States (SIDS) have long been recognized by the international community as a ‘special case’ whose needs and concerns have to be addressed.

Although we are among the least responsible for climate change, we are already experiencing its adverse effects with some countries at the risk of even becoming uninhabitable. This is what makes SIDS a special case requiring the help and attention of the international community.

This recognition is again reinforced by the UN declaring year 2014 as the International Year of Small Island Developing States for the very first time.

Much has changed in the global debate on climate change since the first time I was introduced to the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen.

So has the narrative coming out from the SIDS. There has been a shift from desperate attempts to seek sympathy through “we are drowning” to acts of leadership and strength paving the way for successfully overcoming the challenges through resilience and innovation.

A new story

Being part of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has enhanced the negotiating capacity of SIDS by creating a collective voice for SIDS within the United Nations system.

Holding key leadership positions in various global platforms has also assisted SIDS in getting their key issues across. Fiji’s strong chairmanship of the G77 & China bloc in 2013’s negotiations played an integral part in the adoption of the Warsaw Mechanism on Loss & Damage, which SIDS countries had been lobbying for a number of years.

This shift in narrative is also seen locally especially among the younger generation.

The link between climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development is a matter of survival of young people and the resilience of our islands. Young people from the Pacific islands region put climate change as one of the top five development challenges we face for a sustainable future.

Project Survival Pacific is Fiji’s Youth Climate Movement that has been working with young people from across the Pacific to provide platforms for children and youth voices to be heard in decision making processes, including the UN climate talks.

What sets us apart from the other youth climate movements in general is that since our governments are already convinced that climate change is a top priority and are reflecting this commitment through the policies implemented at national level, Project Survival Pacific has turned to bridging the gap between youth, the communities and the decision makers through partnerships focused on real, meaningful solutions.

By putting focus on meaningful partnerships in collectively addressing our climate change challenges, Project Survival Pacific has managed to get our voices heard at important local, national, regional and global forums.

Our youth members are also included in the government (party) delegations to the UN climate negotiations as official youth delegates, where we actively participate in the negotiation processes to champion the SIDS issues.

Never too young

Youth in Fiji that we work with are now increasingly concerned about the impacts climate change is having.

Earlier in January this year, Vunidogoloa village in Caukaudrove province of Fiji became the country’s first community successfully relocated due to climate change. Government estimates indicate around 640 villages throughout the country are impacted in some way.

A lot of effort has been put in to reach out to the young people here so that they are better equipped to innovate and adapted to the changes we are seeing. From 2015, climate change will be integrated into Fiji’s school curriculum for primary and secondary level.

Krishneil Narayan (left), Shivneel Narayan (centre) and Emeli Mani (right) are part of Project Survival, fighting for the future of small islands (Pic: Project Survival)

Similar activities are also being undertaken by youth in the other two SIDS regions.

The youth from the 3 SIDS regions – the Pacific islands, AIMS and the Caribbean – have teamed up under the SIDS youth network umbrella to address the sustainability challenges we SIDS youth face, including climate change.

This is a great example of partnership emerging among youth in different corners of the planet but with similar challenges working together.

We are never too young to lead.

We each are one jigsaw puzzle piece in a giant jigsaw puzzle. There is something special each one of us can do to make that jigsaw puzzle piece complete and make this world a better place to live. Each one of us are a solution piece for a sustainable, carbon neutral world.

The choice is yours to be that great generation that will lead us towards a sustainable future for all.

Krishneil Narayan is Fiji’s Youth Envoy for Climate Change and a negotiator in the United Nations processes. He is also the Director of Project Survival Pacific: Fiji’s Youth Climate Movement and a SIDS Youth Network facilitator.

The post Project survival: How Pacific island youth are facing down climate change appeared first on Climate Home News.

(Pic: Flickr/Frontierofficial)

The Fijian village of Vunidogolo has become the first to be relocated under the country’s climate change programme.

Rising sea levels forced the community to abandon their traditional compound, according to reports in the Fiji Times.

Locals say effect of climate change has resulted in seawater flowing into the village compound during high tide, damaging houses and ruining crops.

The government has contributed $879,000, around two-thirds of the capital for the move.

“This cost includes the construction of the 30 houses, fish ponds and copra drier, farms and other projects we have set up in the new village site,” Acting Commissioner Northern Alipate Bolalevu was quoted as saying.

Pacific Ambassador: climate stakes are high for ocean nations

Plans for the move were proposed over a year ago, and it is expected 34 others villages will also be moved as Fiji grapples with an eroding coastline and an encroaching ocean.

A recent report by the yhe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates sea levels will rise between 26 and 82 centimetres over the next 100 years.

Last July a Pacific Island summit in Fiji involving 17 nations promised to “redouble efforts” to secure a tough new climate change deal at the UN.

Fiji and its fellow Pacific state Samoa are still recovering from Tropical Cyclone Evan, which hit in December 2012.

It is thought to be one of the worst storms since 1990, causing around $300 million worth of damage.

The post Fiji village relocated under climate change programme appeared first on Climate Home News.

Tim Flannery set to restore Climate Commission after it was axed by Tony Abbott

Australia: Professor Tim Flannery’s “Obama-style” campaign to raise cash for a new Climate Council has generated $1m. Flannery was sacked as head of the federal government’s Climate Commission when the prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced he was abolishing the body to save money. (Guardian)

Fiji: Fiji envisages a clear, predictable, flexible and legally binding agreement on climate change based on common rules-based system says Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, speaking at the Ministerial Consultations on Climate Change in Warsaw, Poland. (Fiji Broadcasting Corporation)

Alaska: In remote northern Alaska, a college freshman has taken fossil fuel divestment campaigns a step further by suing the state for failing to adequately address climate change. University of Alaska Fairbanks freshman Nelson Kanuk is from Barrow, a small town at the top of the world where melting ice and permafrost are reshaping land and life. (Think Progress)

Research: The results of a new meta-analysis published in the Science of the Total Environment journal reveal that organically farmed lands emit less nitrous oxide and take up greater amounts of atmospheric methane, helping to combat climate change. This is the result of an evaluation of 19 comparative studies from around the globe. (Farming UK)

South Africa: We could have less than 17 years to live – thanks to climate change, Bob Geldof has warned. The 61-year-old Live Aid founder told young people at a conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, that there will be ‘a mass extinction event’ and admitted his generation had let down today’s youth. (Daily Mail)

UK: Lobbyists employed directly by the energy companies should be reined in and their dealings with the Government made more open, Ed Miliband has said. (Independent)

ICAO: The UN’s aviation body has voted on a resolution that lays the foundations of a market based mechanism to curb emissions, at the same time as laying waste to the EU’s own emissions trading scheme. (RTCC)

Research: Scientists in the US say they have found evidence suggesting that warmer sea surface temperatures may increase the ability of fish to accumulate mercury. This could present a risk to the health of some consumers of seafood as the mercury rises up the marine food chain. (Eco Business)

The post Australia’s Climate Council generates $1m from crowdfunding appeared first on Climate Home News.

Australian National Tidal Centre reports that sea levels in Kiribati have averaged a rise of 3.7 millimetres a year since 1992 (Pic: UN)

By Ed King

Pacific Island leaders meeting in Fiji this week aim to lay the foundations for a regional plan to cope with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.

The four-day Pacific Climate Change Roundtable brings together 21 countries at acute risk from rising sea levels and storm surges.

They hope to start work on a strategy to collectively deal with these challenges that will be agreed in 2015, the same year a global emissions deal could be signed off at the UN.

Two weeks ago the capital of the Marshall Islands disappeared underwater as a result of high tides, while in 2012 the impact of extreme weather events cost Fiji $100 million, and knocked 29% off Samoa’s GDP.

“It’s important to come together and formulate a roadmap for the region in climate change, adaptation and disaster risk management,” Tonga’s chief meteorologist Ofa Fa’anunu told RTCC.

“Studies have been carried out – we have been involved in most of them. Output from both studies indicates sea level rise, more and stronger tropical cyclones, and what is clear is that the climate is predicted to be more variable, and at times extreme events will become more frequent.”

Pacific Island nations have worked closely with the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to push for greater emission cuts at the UN climate talks.

But with carbon dioxide levels rising fast there is an evident need to focus on how to cope with climate-related disasters.

Recently Fiji offered 6,000 acres of land to the low-lying island state of Kiribati for food security purposes, while there are also plans to create a network of meteorological stations that can provide better warnings of extreme weather events.

“One of the core things that needs to be ironed out is the gathering and monitoring of data. We cannot provide good adaptation if data is not available on a timely and accurate basis,” Fa’anunu said.

“Trying to maintain an observation network is one of our biggest challenges. Many of us will be attending that meeting – it’s important to come together and formulate a roadmap for the region in climate change, adaptation and disaster risk management.”

Tough future

The forthcoming UN review of climate science collated by the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is likely to offer Pacific states clues on what they can expect in the coming years.

The UN’s last major report in 2007 (AR4) warned that islands could expect accelerated coastal erosion, diminishing freshwater supplies and increased flooding from the sea cause large effects on human settlements.

“Less rainfall coupled with accelerated sea-level rise compound the threat on water resources; a 10% reduction in average rainfall by 2050 is likely to correspond to a 20% reduction in the size of the freshwater lens on Tarawa Atoll, Kiribati,” it added.

Studies undertaken under the Pacific Islands Climate Change Science Program indicate that sea levels are rising around the Solomon Islands by about 8mm per year since 1993, higher than the global average of 2.8–3.6mm per year.

Pacific leaders have been urged to develop a 25-30 year strategy that involves business and civil society, strengthening physical sea defences and building awareness among populations.

“I urge the world to follow the example of the Pacific and abandon the current norm of running separate and parallel strategies for disaster risk management and climate change. By committing to integrate the two approaches, the Pacific will benefit millions of people and avoid billions of dollars in economic losses,” said the the Head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Margareta Wahlström.

“If the rest of the world follows suit then the equation is transformed further: then billions of people will benefit and trillions of dollars of losses will be avoided. It is difficult to imagine a bigger sustainable development opportunity that is within our grasp if we have the courage and vision to seize it.”

“This is a historic meeting which will integrate responses to climate change and natural disasters in The Pacific region,” said David Sheppard, head of the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

“This meeting will identify the key areas of focus and synergy between the two critical areas for our region.”

The post Pacific Islands meet in Fiji to discuss 2015 adaptation strategy appeared first on Climate Home News.

The EU will also provide €3.5million over three years to the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), ensuring policy experts and delegates can attend UN climate negotiations.

AOSIS is a coalition of 43 island and coastal countries around the world that are highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including ocean acidification, water shortages, intense storms, and sea level rise.

The group champions ambitious efforts to lower the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change in line with the latest scientific recommendations.

Sea level rises could have profound implications for Pacific Islanders, and make communities more vulnerable to extreme storms

“Too often the voices of the people most vulnerable to climate change are lost on the international stage,” said Ambassador Marlene Moses, who Chairs AOSIS.

“This support will enhance AOSIS’s long-term capacity and help ensure our members are able to actively engage in the UNFCCC process that is so critical to their nations’ well being,”

“With the costs of inaction mounting by the day, it is more important than ever for the interests of the people and countries most vulnerable to be represented at the climate talks.

“We are very grateful for the EU’s support and are confident it will help achieve the imperative goal of ensuring the survival of all states.”

Some of the states AOSIS represents are already contemplating abandoning low-lying islands.

Kiribati’s President has mooted the possibility of evacuating the island state’s whole population if sea levels continue to rise.

The relationship between the EU and AOSIS is seen as critical as the 2015 deadline for a global climate deal draws closer.

Together with the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) they formed a loose alliance in 2011 that saw the adoption of the Durban Platform agreement, laying the foundations for a legally binding emissions protocol.

The alliance became strained in 2012 after financial promises from the developed world were not fulfilled, but the Doha UN talks the groups pledged to work together to collectively ‘raises ambition levels’.

”AOSIS and the EU are united in their desire for an ambitious global climate change agreement in 2015,” said EU Spokesman for Climate Action Isaac Valero-Ladron.

“For many countries, climate change is a matter of survival. Their voices must be heard loud and clear”

The post Small island states secure climate talks funding appeared first on Climate Home News.

“We are not drowning, We are fighting” is the key message from organisers, backed by UNICEF and campaign group 350.org.

In Samoa players from the national rugby team will stage their famous Manu Siva War dance together with 200 school children.

Kiribati, whose citizens face evacuation due to flooding, will witness a 1000-strong warriors challenge at sunset.

And in Fiji politician and TV personality Manoa Rasigatale will launch the Na Bole – Fijian Warriors Challenge, to show that Fijians are: “proud, resilient and determined” to face up to climate change.

350 Pacific spokesperson Mikaele Maiava explained the day’s title: “We do not want to be perceived as vulnerable victims to this global crisis of climate change but as fighting warriors.”

Kiribati’s government has preparations to evacuate the islands if sea levels continue to ride (Pic: The Hungry Tide/Speciality Studios)

The Pacific Islands are often described as being on the front line of climate change, facing droughts, rising sea levels and intense storms linked to global warming.

A temperature rise above 2°C on pre-industrial levels could lead to climatic changes that make many of these islands uninhabitable.

A study published by the UN Environment Programme in November 2012 revealed that 10 million people in 500 communities were at risk in the region.

Low-lying islands are at particular risk and could face losses of up to 18% of GDP because of climate change, the study found.

“We have not seen any increase in the commitments needed to achieve the global temperature goal, ensure we meet our ultimate objective of the Convention, keep global average temperature below 1.5 degrees and ensure the survival of all islands,” he said.

“There is no new finance on the table, only promises that something might materialize in the future. Finance was missing in Durban and it remains missing here in Doha.

“It is difficult to see how we can continue this process unless we mobilise the necessary financial resources to enable the urgently needed funding for mitigation and adaptation.”

To mark the Day of Action TV Producers Speciality Studios are offering their award-winning film The Hungry Tide free online.

It chronicles the plight of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, which is already being inundated by rising seas and could become the world’s first climate-induced migration of an entire nation.

The Hungry Tide from Specialty Studios on Vimeo.

The post ‘Warrior Day of Action’ highlights Pacific climate fight appeared first on Climate Home News.