Pause on Pacific

I am not from the Pacific region, and I know many of my readers aren’t too, so I thought you may want to have a look at the easy read summary of COP21, provided by the BBC, which has no specific focus on the Pacific region. 

Also a really simple 5 point summary on what COP21 means for change, written by UCL lecturer Simon Lewis and a business related one from the Carbon Trust

PacificCOP21 – will it produce any meaningful results?

As COP21 draws to a close, WHO secretary shoots down the haters (critics) of Climate Change, and points to the Pacific islands as the example of how climate change has already caused devastating irreversible damage. The first ever climate refugees are emerging as some islands are submerging into the sea (Odiwuor, 2015).

Dame Taylor, Pacific Ocean Commissioner told COP21 it has never been so important to amplify the Pacific voice. Inaction will undermine our development aspirations and will result in the destruction of unique and diverse cultures as well as the failure of the Sustainable Development Goals (Pittman, 2015). Indeed this has been the time were the Pacific islands have an elevated voice. With their influence a more ambitious target of 1.5 degrees has been put forward, below the previous 2 degree target. Their role has highlighted moral issues, detracting from the usual concerns of economic concerns from the more polluting nations (Velde, 2015).

While most countries think of Climate Change in terms of economic costs, the Pacific islands picture a world map without them on it. Rising seas are already eroding coast line and contaminating freshwater wells. Many are threatened by increases in severity and frequency of typhoons and hurricanes, as well as the very real threat of having no land left to survive on. The vulnerability of the small islands provides them with an elevated platform despite their low impact on world affairs (Ritter, 2015).  

At the start of the Paris talks last week, U.S. President Barack Obama met with five leaders of island nations. Secretary of State John Kerry has been discussing the envisioned Paris deal with others, including Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga of Tuvalu, the poster child of disappearing islands (Ritter, 2015).

The Europeans too, have been reaching out to small island leaders whom they see as useful allies in their attempts to get a strong binding climate pact at the conference which ends later today. The Islands are asking for a 'loss and damage' mechanism to ensure when they are hit by climate impacts such as extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change. This has made wealthy nations nervous. Originally the US did not want to be part of the agreement at all, worried it would pave the way for claims of liability and compensation. In the latest draft they suggested mentioning it in a section on adaptation to climate change (Ritter, 2015).  But the small islands want a seperate section for 'loss and damage' to show it is not about adapting to climate change, but coping with unavoidable impacts, said Thoriq Ibrahim, the environment minister of the Maldives and chair of an alliance of small island nations (Ritter, 2015). In one of the first projects to be approved by the Green Climate Fund, a UN programme for poor nations impacted by climate change, the Maldives will receive $23.6 million to secure freshwater supply on its outer islands. An action which is set to become more often as climate change continues to adversely affect these small nations (Ritter, 2015).

The prospect of reparations to island countries for the cost of adapting to climate change has caused a rift among parties to the climate negotiations and raised fiendishly complex ethical and legal questions. It can be seen as the moral challenge of our time, no one nation can take full responsibility of climate change, yet some form of support should be given to those suffering, which are generally the countries that have contributed the least to climate change. These moral issues need to encourage rich nations to take joint responsibility avoiding any blame, to help the nations most in need (Velde, 2015).  

Pacific islands, and more specifically the talks between the islands and the US has provided pressure on other developed nations to increase their targets, one being New Sealand along with more than 100 other countries. They now back the so-called 'high amnition' target to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees as the global climate change talks in Paris head into what may be a final long night of negotiations (Smellie, 2015). 

Mr Groser, New Zealands Climate Change Minister, is confident that the Paris conference will produce more favourable and impactful results than Copenhagen (Smellie, 2015). 

Small update but big role for the Pacific region to play

Pacific islands play vital role in advancing action on climate change says Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Mr Ban encourages the Pacific region to be more vocal in the Climate debates, especially with COP 21 just around the corner (abc news, 2015). It can build political momentum to resolve outstanding issues, it can call on the major economies to raise their level of ambition (UN News Centre, 2015).

References

Abc news (2015) ‘The latest: North Korea’s FM presses US for Peace Treaty’ [Online] http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-bosnia-herzegovina-touts-democracy-34175520

UN News Centre (2015) ‘Pacific Islands play vital role in advancing action on climate change, Ban tells leaders’ [Online] http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=52089#.VhBVhPlViko

Climate Refugees not to be forgotten in the Pacific region

Seeing as migration and refugees have been a big focus in the media recently it only seems fitting to observe the same theme in the Pacific Islands. In the second week of October Kiribati is hosting an international conference to discuss the issue of climate change refugees. The conference will bring together the atoll nations from the Pacific region and key international agencies (Radio New Zealand, 2015).

The IPCC has said atoll nations will be submerged in 30 years or less. Unfortunately recent studies have suggested this prediction may be more generous than thought (USGS, 2015). Although a small period of time, it allows enough warning for plans to be put in place to allow citizens to migrate in a way they would feel more dignified. Multi-lateral process and negotiations are taking too long so this meeting will be able to transfer ideas and concerns between the effected nations and relevant agencies (Radio New Zealand, 2015). Australia and New Zealand are already helping labour mobility programs, some countries in the Pacific region are providing skills for young people to better understand how to equip themselves with the issues to come. This demonstrates that actions are already been taken, but more countries need to be on board for accepting migrants, and the ones already doing so need to prepare for a larger intake (World Summit, 2015).

More needs to be done in the countries effected also. More labour mobility programmes to allow greater opportunities for these people to migrate and become citizens of other countries. These negotiations will also be discussing the need for more international law concerning the environment. Discussions with Switzerland and Norway about their Nansen initiative should help develop a law to cover climate induced migration (Kiribati Climate Change, 2015). With these concerns COP 21 is a very significant event that is coming up, and it is hoped that COP 21 will create more concrete plans on what to do next in the climate change battle (Radio New Zealand, 2015).

References

Kiribati Climate Change (2015) ‘EU announces $23 million Euro for Kiribati’ [Online] http://www.climate.gov.ki/tag/kiribati-president-anote-tong/

USGS (2015) 'Many atolls may be uninhabitable within decades due to climate change' [Online] http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=4346#.VhBVpvlViko

World Summit (2015) ‘Anote Tong’ [Online] http://www.worldsummit2015.org/sunhak-peace-prize/laureates/anote-tong


Radio New Zealand (2015) ‘Climate change migration the focus of Kiribati Summit’ [Online] http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201772925/climate-change-migration-the-focus-of-kiribati-summit