Thirteen out of the 17 parts of Fiji’s Climate Change Act have been fully enacted.
Permanent secretary for Climate Change and Environment Dr Sivendra Michael said this marks significant progress in implementing the landmark legislation, which guides the country’s response to climate change.
Dr Michael said monitoring and ensuring compliance with the Act required a cross-ministry approach, as climate action cannot be carried out by one ministry alone.
“So for any legislation, the monitoring and compliance responsibility falls on the ministry.
“But no one ministry can do it alone, so it’s a cross-ministry approach,” he said.
He explained that each government ministry now has climate change focal points who are part of the national working group.
In addition, Fiji has established co-ordination bodies such as the National Ocean Steering Committee, which includes representatives from ministries, civil society, and conservation agencies, and the National Climate Change Coordination Committee, made up of permanent secretaries from all ministries.
Dr Michael said these structures make it easier to monitor implementation and ensure compliance across government.
Of the four parts of the Act yet to be enacted, two key areas are carbon markets and private sector mandatory reporting.
“For carbon markets, the regulations are not ready.
“We need the regulations before we can bring it into force because it’s quite sensitive.”
He said consultations with the private sector were ongoing to determine what types of data and financial reporting would be required for carbon trading and other climate-related obligations.
Dr Michael also noted that some miscellaneous clauses still needed to be enacted.
