Climate Change

Mr Shaw and Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio are representing New Zealand at climate talks in Germany, and on the way there had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The COP23 conference in Bonn is being convened under the presidency of Fiji, giving the international meeting a decidedly Pacific feel and focus.

Shaw is already working on allowing Pacific people to migrate to New Zealand if climate change forces them to flee their homes.
 
Shaw and Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio are attending the COP23 climate change meeting in Bonn, Germany, and also heading to Rome, Italy, for a meeting between the Pacific Island Forum leaders and Pope Francis.
 
COP23 lead by Fiji, and focus on the threat rising seas pose to low-lying nations such as Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Fiji and Vanuatu.
 

The Law and Climate Change Toolkit is aimed at government policy makers responsible for developing laws that help implement the Paris Agreement.

The UNEP's Emissions Gap 2017'report shows Australia is projected to miss its 2015 Paris Agreement pledge by more than a third.

Australia has said it will cut its 2005 emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2030.

The report released last night showed the country is projected to emit 592-million-tonnes of CO2-equivalent by 2030 compared with its maximum target of 440-million-tonnes.

The decision will affect dozens of projects in France's overseas territories.

The overseas minister Annick Giradin has told the National Assembly that the next budget has no provision to feed the fund which was meant to mitigate against climate change.

Ms Girardin said her ministry cannot be the only one taking care of the effects of climate change, suggesting that other ministries and agencies share the responsibility.

The cut affects dozens of projects, including some in French Polynesia worth almost $US30 million.

Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama is presiding over the 11 day long talks, known as COP 23, which starts next week.

The Fijian government said it was ensuring Fiji's "Bula" spirit is stamped on the occasion by providing cultural shows, a Fijian drua or sailing canoe in the main foyer and talanoa-style negotations.

Fiji, along with most Pacific island countries, wants to see a one-point-five-degree limit on global temperature rise above pre industrial levels.

President Waqa said a fully operational mechanism to address Loss and Damage is absolutely essential.

“It is our collective responsibility to ensure that no country or community is left behind.”  

The Nauru leader made the comments in a statement as Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) at the Pre-COP Session 2 Plenary discussion in Nadi, Fiji.

Fiji is co-hosting the UN conference on climate change in Germany and is holding a series of preliminary meetings this week in Nadi.

Most Pacific countries have long backed limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius abover pre-industrial levels, while New Zealand and Australia have committed to two-degrees in line with most other developed nations.

At the meeting, Australia is set to face criticism over the planned Adani coal mine in Queensland and PICAN's Genevieve Jiva said it should not go ahead.

Have Your Sei, led by global advocacy group 350.org, is encouraging people from the Pacific region to lead climate change action by signing a Pacific Climate Warriors Declaration to be presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year.

The declaration wants to kick big polluters out of climate change talks and do what is needed to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celcius. 

Project co-ordinator Joseph-Zane Sikulu says most of the big countries in climate change conversations are the big contributors to the problem itself.

In his address Frank Bainimarama urged world leaders to strive for more than just the two degrees’ target set in Paris in 2015.

In November, Mr Bainimarama will take up the presidency COP23 UN climate change conference in Germany.

He told leaders at the General Assembly they should commit to limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels.

"It may be tempting for political leaders to show that they are protecting some national industry or near term economic goal," he said.