Pacific Islands Forum Leaders have called for urgent climate action from their global counterparts, warning rising sea levels will lead to lose of homes, ways of life, wellbeing and livelihoods of islands communities.
Following a high-level political dialogue with the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres in Suva, the leaders issued a statement saying climate change is the ‘single biggest threat to our Blue Pacific region.”
Forum Chair and Nauru President, Baron Waqa read the statement on behalf of the leaders.
The Pacific leaders said all countries must take decisive and transformative action to reduce global emissions and ensure at scale mitigation and adaptation support for those countries that need it.
Global leaders and parties at all levels have also been challenged to take swift and ambitious actions to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“As one Blue Pacific, we are – and will continue to – take decisive action”
“We enacted to Boe Declaration to put climate change at the forefront of our collective security action. We have driven global advocacy on climate change and set ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions. We have taken a world-leading integrated approach to tackle climate change and disaster risks through our Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific.”
Pacific leaders have also called on their global counterparts to seize the opportunity of the UNSG’s Climate Action Summit in New York in September to make the changes needed to reverse climate change.
The leaders met with Guterres in Suva Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by the Presidents of Nauru, Palau, Kiribati and Marshall Islands, the Prime Ministers of Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, Tuvalu, President of French Polynesia and Deputy PM of New Zealand.
Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu were represented by Ministers, a Member of Parliament represented Niue, while Papua New Guinea was represented by their Permanent Rep to PIF.
Australis was represented by a senior official as an observer due to a pending national election and in accordance with its convention during an election period.
Guterres will also visit Tuvalu and Vanuatu where he will be able to see firsthand the effects of climate change on local communities.
The UN Secretary General is on his first visit to the Pacific since his appointment in 2017.
Photo: Fiji Foreign Affairs Ministry. Caption: Pacific Islands Forum Chair and Nauru President, Baron Waqa.