There have been some disagreements between leaders of the Pacific Island Forum Leaders’ summit today as they discussed and debated the five key priority issues at the leaders retreat.
The five issues were: climate change, fisheries, ICT, Cervical cancer and human rights abuses in West Papua
LOOP News understands there were some differences on positions by countries on West Papua and Climate change
On Climate the disagreements surrounded the proposal by small island states to make an ambitious commitment, one of which is to limit global temperature increase to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius
Unfortunately leaders failed to commit to this.
Australia and New Zealand have not made any new commitments.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says they have announced very ambitious targets for emissions between 26 – 28 percent while New Zealand has targeted a 30 percent reduction.
Kiribati President Atone Tong this week said they expect support from Australia and New Zealand and that said it was non-negotiable.
But this evening Tong said the position of Small Island states is very different and unless something is done it will be a serious issue for them.
Chair of Pacific Island Forum and Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said Pacific Island nations will go to the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference in Par