The four-day summit of the Pacific Islands Forum held in the capital city of Suva in Fiji might have made news for China holding a concurrent meeting on the sidelines but there were few important conversations to come out of it. Reportedly, the 17 forum members used the platform to send out a message to big carbon emitting countries that the lives of people in the Pacific region were on line.
The forum members adopted stern language to declare a climate emergency and sought the superpowers viz. the USA and China (currently engaged in a competition to assert dominance in the region) to do more on climate change.
Demands of the forum
The member states demanded that the largest emitters of CO2 (usually the developed nation), double their climate financing to the developing nations. The forum also asked the big-league countries to conduct a meaningful dialogue at the COP27, expected to take place later this year in Egypt.
Fiji President Frank Bainimarama, in an interaction with reporters put forth the demand for financing to vulnerable societies for the ‘loss and damage’ caused due to the changing landscape.
“What matters most to us is we secure bold commitments from all countries at COP27 to phase out coal and other fossil fuels and step up finance to the most vulnerable nations and advance causes like ‘loss and damage’ that matter dearly to the most at-risk island communities,” said Frank.
The 30 million square kilometres of exclusive economic zones of the Pacific have seen the most severe effects of global warming with low-lying areas getting inundated routinely. Not only does science corroborate the fact but the people living in the Pacific are seeing a drastic change in the sea levels, affecting their livelihood. If the trend continues, the world may have to do without Tuna, the world’s most eaten fish, whose more than half of the production comes from this region.
(With inputs from agencies)
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