It was indeed a psychological moment when Pacific leaders and delegates were greeted by small children of Tuvalu – submerged in water surrounding a model of their sinking islands using their call to “Save Tuvalu, save the world”, upon their arrival towards the 50th Pacific Islands Forum locked in Funafuti, Tuvalu, from 13 to 16 August.
Tuvalu's message couldn't be clearer or more important – climate change is real and also the way forward for their kids and all the kids of our blue Pacific is uncertain – unless urgent, ambitious action is come to limit climatic change to below 1.5C.
Last year, Pacific Islands Forum leaders reaffirmed, with the Boe Declaration on Regional Security, that global warming may be the single greatest threat facing the location. At their 50th meeting in Tuvalu, leaders discussed this threat and resolved, by consensus, to consider urgent action.
Following their meeting, leaders issued the Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now.
Over the past week, I've come across significant curiosity about the Kainaki II Declaration from people throughout our region and internationally. The amount of interest, debate and discussion is very positive and speaks to the character from the climate change crisis that people now face, and also the catastrophic consequences of inaction for a lot of of the forum's members.
As secretary general, I want to use this opportunity to make one very important point about the declaration.
The Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now's the best statement the Pacific Islands Forum has ever issued collectively on climate change, and will stand like a key advocacy instrument to aid the Pacific's collective voice in the UN secretary-general's climate action summit to be held in Ny next month, the 25th Conference from the Parties (Cop25) to the Un Framework Convention on Global warming (UNFCCC) in Chile in December along with other global meetings.
The Kainaki II Declaration is really a significant milestone. Especially so, considering that Australia and New Zealand are developed country parties within the context of international climate change negotiations and therefore are a part of a negotiating group featuring its larger countries like the US, Japan and Canada. The fact that New zealand and australia, as members of the Pacific Islands Forum, support and endorse the Kainaki II Declaration will elevate and add considerable weight towards the Pacific's negotiating priorities in the international level, including at the upcoming Cop25.
The Kainaki II Declaration is the very first time the Pacific Islands Forum has agreed and asserted that there is a 'climate change crisis' facing the Pacific island nations. It appears twice within the declaration in paragraphs 1 and 9. By receiving use the term 'climate change crisis', Pacific leaders have set a new bar for the international community, as “crisis” happens to be not agreed language within the Paris Agreement or in the UNFCCC process.
We are all aware that limiting the worldwide average temperature rise to below 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is really a red line for Pacific island nations. In reaction, the Kainaki II Declaration references the Intergovernmental Panel on Global warming (IPCC) 2023 Special Report on 1.5C a minimum of three times and also declares the necessity to limit global climate increase to 1.5C five times. This can be a strong signal from Pacific leaders to guarantee the international community meets all obligations underneath the Paris Agreement and increases the pressure for those countries to take urgent action to lessen global greenhouse gas emissions and stop catastrophic global warming.
To ensure we are on the right track for the 1.5C pathway greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2023 and decline thereafter reaching net zero by 2050. Reflecting this, the Kainaki II Declaration mentions 'achieving net zero carbon by 2050' twice, alongside the need to formulate long-term low emissions strategies by 2023.
On nationally determined contributions (NDCs), the word what within the Kainaki II Declaration recognises the requirement for both sides to the Paris Agreement to update and communicate their revised NDCs in 2023, including meeting or exceeding their current commitments to pursue efforts to limit the worldwide climate increase to at least one.5C, whilst recognising the chance presented throughout the first global stocktake, to occur in 2023.
Several leaders in our region have consistently called on industralised nations and large emitters to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and ban the construction of new coal plants. The Kainaki II Declaration references the term 'just transition from fossil fuels', which refers to a transition away from coal, gas and oil and calls on people in G7 and G20 to 'rapidly implement’ their existing commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies is really a positive step.
It is widely acknowledged that simplified access to scaled-up international climate finance is a key priority to forum island countries. In connection with this, the Kainaki II Declaration not only seeks support for replenishment of the Green Climate Fund, but also calls on the international community to satisfy their climate finance commitments to jointly mobilise $100 billion each year by 2023 and to conclude work on the variation Fund serving the Paris Agreement. I note today's news that the United Kingdom will double its contribution to the Green Climate Fund as a positive response to the Kainaki II Declaration. Hopefully other development partners follows this lead.
The last issue I wish to note is the importance of the climate-ocean nexus to our blue pacific continent. In welcoming the Cop25 presidency's concentrate on oceans, the Kainaki II Declaration calls on both sides attending Cop25 to think about a work programme on oceans inside the UNFCCC process. This can be a significant step, noting the work around the climate-ocean nexus has been running parallel, instead of as an integrated component within international climate change negotiations.
In closing, as the Kainaki II Declaration is a milestone for that Pacific Islands Forum, we recognise that more still needs to be done as to improve the ambition amounts of industrialised nations and enormous emitters globally. For many of the countries of the forum, climate change isn't a political issue but an existential one and that we don't have the time to delay commitments for transformative change. Urgent political will and ambition, both internationally and domestically, is immediately necessary to respond to the climate change crisis facing our region.
I have personally witnessed the robustness and richness from the discussions by our leaders on global warming issues evolve and grow from year-to-year. The effectiveness of the consensus formed around Kainaki II talks to the strength of our collective and to our solidarity as a family.
The Kainaki II Declaration is statement of urgent action that all Pacific people should be happy with, and i'm certain it will further boost the Pacific Islands Forum's strong record for global leadership on climate issues.
