Tiana
Haxton RNZ Pacific journalist/presenter
Pacific
leaders pulled no punches in their climate messaging at the
United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this
month.
Countries from all three regions – Melanesia,
Micronesia and Polynesia – have called on the international
community to do far more on climate action.
They say
climate change is not merely an environmental concern, but
an existential problem of planetary
proportion.
Tonga’s Prime Minister Lord Fatafehi
Fakafanua questioned why the Pacific’s climate concerns are
still a reccuring theme at the UNGA.
Lord Fakafanua
was among several other Pacific leaders who pointed out that
the nations doing the least climate damage are left to deal
with the worst impacts.
But it is a message they have
been conveying for years.
“I stand here mindful that
Pacific leaders have come before me, raising the same
warnings, making the same appeals,” Lord Fakafanua said
during his UNGA address.
“Today, I’m compelled to make
them again. The question before us is not whether the world
has heard our message, but why has it still not
acted?”
Federated States of Micronesia’s
Vice-President Aren Palik warned that global climate action
is not progressing fast enough.
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Palik reminded world
leaders there are less than five years to achieve the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are global
objectives to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure
prosperity for all by 2030.
He said the international
community must scale up efforts or small island nations will
be the ones left burdened with the cost – financial and
physical.
“The recent typhoon, and severe flooding in
our states, and more frequent king tides affecting our
low-lying islands, demonstrate that these are no longer
isolated events, but recurring pressures that test the
resilience of our communities on the front line of climate
crisis.”
Samoa’s Deputy Prime Minister Mulipola
Anarosa Ale Molioo said global climate financing needs to be
scaled up to better support the needs of the most heavily
affected.
Mulipola shared how climate adaptation is
taking money away from other development
needs.
“Resources intended for education, health,
water, and social protection are now diverted to disaster
recovery,” she said.
“Small nations are being asked to
finance both development and survival. No nation should have
to borrow its way out of a crisis it did so little to
create.”
Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr said the
region needs financing that reaches communities without
adding debt.
He told leaders these countries are
already bearing the cost of problems they did not
create.
“Those who contributed the least to this
climate crisis, yet confront the worst threats of rising sea
levels must not be burdened with debt simply to purchase a
life jacket for their survival.”
Marshall Islands
President Hilda Heine reiterated that these smaller nations
affected by climate change deserve proper
compensation.
She shared how schools are being
destroyed by rising seas, salt water is poisoning wells and
disease outbreaks have been linked to environmental
change.
“This injustice must be addressed, our
communities deserve restitution. The Marshall Islands and
vulnerable people everywhere need sufficient, timely, and
accessible finance for adaptation and loss and damage. Those
who have profited to the detriment of the many must
pay.”
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape
said countries must always bear in mind the needs of future
generations
He urged the international community to
put differences aside and work together to protect the
planet.
“It is where we live, it is where we grow our
food, it is where we fish, it is the inheritance we will
pass on to our children. In our interconnected world,
decisions made in one country can affect people thousands of
kilometres away.”
Marape urged other countries to
prioritise humanity ahead of war – reminding them that
decisions made today will shape tomorrow.
“Think of
the children. A child born today did not create climate
change,” he said.
“That child did not choose the worst
of this generation. That child did not create pollution or
the environmental destructions.
“Yet the child will
inherit the consequence of the decisions we make today. We
must therefore be custodians not only of the present, but
also of the
future.”
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