Vanuatu says it will ensure comprehensive steps are taken to implement the Paris Agreement at the upcoming COP23 in November.
“It is simply not acceptable – purely in moral terms – for the world to allow the small island developing states to sink slowly beneath the waves because of the selfish determination of industrialized nations to protect their own economies.
Time is fast running out and I beg you all to act with us as a unified SIDS voice.
The Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) – a coalition of 48 countries from Asia, Africa, Caribbean, the Pacific and South America of which Vanuatu is a member– has declared that we “strive to meet 100% domestic renewable energy production as rapidly as possible while working to end energy poverty, protect water and food security, taking into consideration national circumstances”, Fr. Lonsdale said at the Small Island States Conference in Dakhla South Morocco.
He announced at the SIDS conference that Vanuatu is already on a pathway to meet 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 as specified in the government energy roadmap.
The Head of state also explained that Vanuatu has launched its National Sustainable Development plan that is aligned closely to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).
President Lonsdale warned that without real action on climate change, Vanuatu will simply be unable to realise any of its development aspirations.
He acknowledged that SIDS need sustainable financing support from developed countries.
“According to the Paris Agreement, we can expect to see a floor of US$100 billion per year available globally for climate action by 2020. But, as Head of State I require from our development partners more transparency, confidence and predictability on current and expected climate finance flows to rapidly upscale the incredible adaptation and mitigation work we have already started”, he said.
President Lonsdale said that “while much is happening at the global level on climate change action, we are not moving nearly fast enough here in SIDS”.
“We are dangerously near the edge of what scientists tell us will be catastrophic warming once we cross the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius”, Fr Lonsdale said.
He pointed out that in 2016; Vanuatu suffered a crippling El Nino drought which plunged the country’s farming communities into a severe food crisis.
Vanuatu is still recovering from the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam in March of 2015.
“Climate change is real and devastating my nation. As a long-time leader at the national level, I can confirm that the first reaction to a new challenge is most often to ignore it and hope it will go away. There are enough problems. If it won’t go away, the second reaction is to delay. If you can push it into tomorrow, it might yet go away and anyway. But here at this SIDS Conference of the Crans Montana Forum, we need to coordinate SIDS action under the Paris Agreement in a way that immediately turns the many challenges into opportunities”. President Lonsdale said.
“I would also like to raise our unified SIDS voice and to convey a warning to those nations that seek to ignore or delay climate action: with respect, I ask you to stand aside. Your 2°C legal obligation is not going to go away, as it is political judgment, informed by science, about the threshold beyond which the planet will no longer support a quality of life.
“We will not move forward unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground, where they belong. Although the commitments made since COP21 may still fall short of our 1.5°C desired SIDS response, we at COP23, the SIDS COP, are going to ratchet up, and never rein back, our ambition”, Fr. Lonsdale added.
However, the Vanuatu Head of State said he was humbled by the display of support from the civil society, private sector and development partner agencies towards helping the people in SIDS, and he said he wishes and hopes these partnerships will continue to deepen considerably.
President Lonsdale said that “with this Forum, Vanuatu is proactively preparing itself to own SIDS development action – not merely sitting back as a passive recipient of development assistance. I want our countries to be the driver of change and the leader of the innovations required to address this crisis”.