Climate Change

This was a key message by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature at the first Oceania Ecosystem Services Forum in Brisbane held 27-31 March 2017.

Pacific island people rely heavily on ecosystem services and natural resources to support their national economies and community livelihoods.

Huffington Post i ripot olsem sampla long ol despla  kaikai em Sweet Potato oa Kumara, tapioka, taro, na yam em ol pipal blong Vanuatu isave kaikaim ol taem, tasol climate change iwok long mekim sampla long ol despla kaikai ino save grow gut.

Ministri blong  Agriculture nau iwok long mekim wok painimaut long sampla varieties oa kaen sweet potato em oli kisim long Fiji, Papua New Guinea na Solomon Islands em oli ting bai no nap bagarap long ol taem nogut olsem drought na ol cyclone.

With the EU's current partnership agreement with the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries expiring in 2020, they are working towards a new agreement.

Stefano Manservisi, the Director-General of DEVCO, is visiting the Pacific, taking in visits to Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Australia and New Zealand.

He said the EU was proposing to embed in a new agreement a "specific Pacific pillar", based on common objectives.

As reported in the Huffington Post by writer Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community says root crops such as yam, taro, manioc, sweet potato are fundamental to the diet of Ni-Vanuatu for over 2000 years.

Mr. Pakoa Leo, an agricultural expert and Coordinator of the Vanuatu Coastal Adaptation Project (VCAP) said that the crops are cultivated because of their ability to withstand weather extremes, diseases and pests.

For Tokelau, this is now underway with a special inception workshop held in Samoa, to plan implementation of the different activities.

With the Tokelau General Fono recently endorsing the Tokelau Climate Change Strategy – 'Living with Change' the protection of the ocean is featured as a high priority.

 Being part of the New Zealand Pacific Partnership on Ocean Acidification (NZPPOA) regional project to build resilience to ocean acidification is especially important for Tokelau and her community.

“We are dealing with scientific facts, not politics. And the facts are clear. Climate change is a direct threat in itself, and a multiplier of many other threats,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a General Assembly High-Level action event aimed at invigorating political momentum on climate change, highlighting its deep links to the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.
 
Guterres said his messages to the meeting are simple.
 

In November, Fiji will be the president of the global climate change negotiations known as COP23, which follow on from landmark talks that led to a key climate agreement in Paris in 2015.

Krishneil Narayan, the co-ordinator of the Pacific Islands Climate Network, an umbrella organisation for 58 regional organisations, said this allows Pacific countries a real opportunity to highlight their plight.

“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 secretary general, Dame Meg Taylor, is leading a delegation to Beijing, Guangzhou and Hainan Province, with a focus on partnerships for sustainable development.

She said China was a valued partner of the Pacific region and the Forum was looking forward to a deeper and more dynamic relationship.

Dame Meg said increasingly China was taking a leadership role in addressing climate change.

She said the agency hoped it continues this role as the world implements the bold initiatives of the Paris Agreement.

Photo: AFP Dame Meg Taylor 

Breaking a decade-long tradition of endorsing open trade, G20 finance ministers and central bankers made only a token reference to trade in their communique on Saturday, a clear defeat for host nation Germany which fought the new US government's attempts to water down past commitments.

That was just a year after the group, made up of the world's 20 largest economies, vowed to "resist all forms of protectionism".