PRIME Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says Fiji and other Pacific countries will keep fighting to have global warming capped at 0.5 degrees above the pre-industrial age.
In his address to the Fijian community in Auckland on Friday, Mr Bainimarama said the push was despite the 2 per cent that the world agreed to at COP-21 last year.
“As you know, Fiji is taking a lead role in this fight. And next month, I will be travelling to Morocco for COP-22, where I will again be pressing for deeper cuts in carbon emissions than we have on the table at the moment,” he said.
He said it was taking longer to rebuild homes and schools following the destruction caused by Winston.
“But the rebuilding effort is in full swing and we are also exploring more innovative ways of building back better and more efficiently,” he said.
“Friends, we are determined to build back better and stronger. Because we know that it is only a matter of time before the fury returns.”
He said climate change was producing more frequent and intense weather events all over the world.
Mr Bainimarama said it was important to persuade the industrial nations to cut back on the carbon emissions.
Meanwhile, he said a New Zealand company had put in a tender to rebuild homes and schools using modular units that were a lot quicker to erect than conventional building methods.
“They did a lot to house the victims of the Christchurch earthquake and we’ll be looking at this as part of the solution in cyclone-ravaged parts of Fiji.”
