PACIFIC Island nations must work together to secure funding to support adaptation activities following the Paris Agreement on Climate Change signed last weekend.
This was the sentiment of Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, Dame Meg Taylor, who was in Paris for the COP 21 meeting.
“This agreement provides a strong outcome for the Pacific. While there were great gains the real work starts now. We must work together to secure climate change finance for the island nations to support adaptation activities,” Ms Taylor said in a statement from SPREP.
“Pacific leaders and their delegations did an amazing job in representing their people and future generations of Pacific Islanders. The way in which the CROP agencies worked alongside them highlighted to me once again just how much can be achieved when the region works together towards a common goal.”
According to the statement, the Paris Agreement includes aspects that are legally binding, and includes a five-year review of emissions to determine the ability to meet the long term global goal, to “prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change.”
Other key measures include: to peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and achieve a balance between sources and sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century; to review progress every five years; and a commitment towards $US100 billion a year in climate finance for developing countries by 2020, with a commitment to further finance in the future. Small island states, together with least developed countries, have special status with regard to financing and reporting under the Paris Agreement.
The inclusion of “loss and damage” in the agreement is a significant step towards recognition of the loss and damage that results from the adverse effects of climate change (including extreme weather events and slow onset events) and acknowledgment of the suffering of vulnerable states including small island countries and territories in the Pacific.
Another key implication from Paris will be an overhaul of historic proportions for energy policies worldwide and a huge investment in renewable energy and cleaning up the pollution now being emitted to the Earth’s atmosphere. In the Pacific, this will signal an acceleration of the existing efforts of Pacific Island countries and territories to shift to renewable energy. Globally, every country will now have to commit to reducing emissions.
Key factors on the success of COP 21 for the Pacific were the open and transparent manner in which the Government of France led the COP itself and their extensive consultations with stakeholders, Pacific voices and the AOSIS, building upon the lessons learnt from Copenhagen in 2009.
