Climate Conversations - Staying positive as climate talks hit delays

Blog link:  http://www.trust.org/alertnet/blogs/climate-conversations/staying-positive-as-climate-talks-hit-delays/

By Ambassador Marlene Moses, permanent representative to the United Nations for the Republic of Nauru

One of the most frequent questions I am asked at the international climate negotiations goes along these lines: “How do you remain positive when you, a citizen and representative of a small Pacific island that could well become uninhabitable due to climate change, again and again face delays at the very talks meant to save you?”

The truth is, with reports from Nauru about water supplies running low, coastal areas washing away, and the sea rising, I fear for what my life and the lives of children from our region may be.

But, just when the reasons to despair stare me imposingly in the face, and the urge to give up swells inside me, I seek the presence of people of conscience, and I feel around me the optimism of youth, with its stubborn refusal to accept a fate forced upon it.

Last Friday I had one of those moments. I was honoured to join Ambassadors Dessima Williams of Grenada and Ronald Jumeau of the Seychelles at the “Rally for Survival” outside the UNFCCC climate talks being held here in Durban, South Africa.

We are representatives from island countries of the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions, which comprise the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and our people are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The crowd reflected the world’s diversity and goodness. A New Zealander, Senegalese and Vermonter warmly greeted us and explained that, since there were no microphones, our words would be repeated for all to hear.

So human amplification echoed each sentence from our lips to the ears of the Indian, English, South African, Bolivian, Spanish, American, Australian, French, Brazilian, Chinese and all the others in the crowd and back to us again. I thought that maybe by repeating them again here, and sharing photographs and video, you might too feel what we felt.

'WE ARE ALL SMALL ISLANDERS'

Ambassador Williams began by telling the audience: “It is so wonderful to be surrounded by our friends in civil society. You are the conscience of these negotiations and we thank you for your steadfast resolve and support. It inspires us.”

I added: “We thank each and every one of you here today for being our conscience, and we’ll continue to be your voice inside those halls and the negotiating rooms… I want to thank you for your steadfastness, for your conscience and for your conviction… It gives us conviction.”

And Ambassador Jumeau followed on: “You have heard the message from the islands: from the Caribbean, from the Pacific, and I come from the Indian Ocean. The same message applies to the port city of Durban. If we go under, Durban goes under… During COP 17 we are all small islanders. So don’t save us. Save yourselves.”

This gathering - this Conference of People - reflects the increasingly rare and precious dialogue at these climate negotiations that keeps hope alive. It is the opposite of pessimism and the antidote to cynicism. It is the most important conversation in the world.

If there is one thing I know, influential voices here will tell us not to raise our expectations too high. They will tell us to be reasonable, given the current economic and political contexts. The temptation will be great to take the advice, in the hope we might get something better in the future, or the fear that it is the best we will get today.

But life is characterised by uncertainty. There is no guaranteeing that economic and political conditions will be any more conducive to an agreement five or ten years from now than they are today. Indeed, given the worsening impacts of climate change, things could very well get worse.

The truth is that, unless things change quickly, we will in all likelihood bequeath the next generation a world with many more droughts and famines and floods, and fewer rainforests, coral reefs and cultures.

In light of this reality, we should never be ashamed to demand what is required for our survival. The science again and again points to the same number: 350 parts per million, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is consistent with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees and that gives us a realistic chance at survival.

It is the responsibility of the leaders at these talks to be guided by the best available science and the principles of the Convention to which we have all agreed and, as the rally so poignantly reminds us, it is the responsibility of people of conscience to accept nothing less.

Ambassador Marlene Moses is the permanent representative to the United Nations for the Republic of Nauru and Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States. Next year she will Chair the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

BROADENING THE CIMATE CHANGE DEBATE: “Not just about sea-level rise”

Durban, South Africa,5 December 2011 - Climate change goes beyond the direct impacts of well-publicised sea-level rise, says an expert from the Pacific region.

Think food security and health. Think infrastructure; planning and budgeting. Think holistic.

“These are all interconnected issues that impact our Pacific countries’ abilities to deal effectively with the impacts of climate change,” says Brian Dawson, Senior Climate Change Advisor with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

“People need to know their options for survival and quality of life, and how to effectively adapt to these grave threats.”

Adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change is one of the key international issues being negotiated at the United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP17 – currently underway in Durban, South Africa.

SPC Report - Food Security in the Pacific and East Timor and its vulnerability to climate change

Filling the knowledge gap

Citing the findings of a recently released report from SPC titled “Food Security in the Pacific and East Timor and its vulnerability to climate change”, Mr Dawson said one of the key issues to address in the Pacific is understanding adaptation options.

He poses: “When will we have to adapt? What are the options that we have? How much is it going to cost? Who should pay for it and what should we do as countries ourselves to actually increase our resilience to climate change?”

There’s more than just climate change at work asserts Mr Dawson.

“There’s a range of variables that due to differences in governance, urbanization, population growth, waste streams, degradation of reefs – these actually increase island nations’ vulnerability to climate change.”

Mr Dawson suggests, as outlined in the SPC report, the need to improve existing management of resources and governance systems, and that in itself, irrespective of climate change, will be a benefit, and will also increase resilience to climate change.

“Climate change is a very slow, erosive effect in things like agriculture, sustainability of forest systems, ecosystems based on water changes of river levels and extreme rainfall events,” said Mr Dawson.

“All those things have an impact of day to day activities, like growing crops, catching fish, so it’s very important that we build that broad base of understanding in line ministries and communities if we’re actually going to get together a sensible approach to adaptation.”

The Ulu o Tokelau (Head of Government), Foua Toloa, echoes Mr Dawson’s sentiments on the far-reaching effects of climate change, reflecting on the small island nation’s recent water crisis.

“When you have no water there is a broad spectrum of impacts,” said the Ulu.

“We were under threat from health issues, even more vulnerable to disasters and there were many other development concerns because we had a severe shortage of water.

“When climate change affects one area, other areas feel the repercussions."

Tokelau declared a state of emergency in October this year after six months without substantial rain, their primary source of fresh water.

Food security - quality not quantity

Another major concern affecting Pacific peoples’ day-to-day lives, with climate change impacts a key factor in the severity of the issue, is food security.

Food security includes various elements, according to Mr Dawson.

“They include having access to food, and that’s a function of both incomes and also the ability to supply food to markets; it’s making sure that the food you have is hygienic; it’s about adequate nutrition; and in some of the countries there’s been a decline in the percentage of their diets supplied by traditional crops and fish being replaced by imported foods.”

All those different aspects are interrelated said Mr Dawson, and accentuated due to the impacts of climate change.

“When you talk about food security, you need to think about more than enough food, you need quality of food,” he said.

“Generally in the Pacific people are quite well fed, but in the nutritional aspects, you can have over nutrition and under nutrition and what we need to have is proper nutrition.”

Food production per capita has been declining in just about all countries in the region according to Mr Dawson.

“With climate change you get increased variability and intensity of rainfall, and consequent losses from things like floods and change in pest and disease regimes,” said Mr Dawson.

“A lot of crops depend on pollinators and with climate change these pollinators are disappearing, different fruits are flowering at different times, so the traditional food cropping systems are going to change.”

Fish

One of the significant findings of another SPC report, “Vulnerability of Tropical Pacific Fisheries and Aquaculture to Climate Change”, is that coastal fisheries will decline over the course of the century.

“So that by mid-century it will decline by 20-30%, and by the end of the century by up to 50%,” said Mr Dawson.

“At the same time, the availability of tuna increases, for a range of reasons, so some countries like Kiribati and Marshall Islands, Samoa, may get 20-40% increase in available tuna.

“So you could see that as a windfall in terms of exports of tuna, but at the same time, an important adaptation response is for greater domestic consumption of tuna to substitute for the loss of coastal fisheries.”

So when Pacific nations start planning ahead to get appropriate nutritional supplies, you need to think about what options are available.

“Luckily for the Pacific we have the increase in oceanic fisheries catches that can supplement food supplies and reduce our reliance on imported food,” said Mr Dawson. “But we need to understand now, so we can plan for the decades ahead.”

 

COP17 and the Pacific

According to Mr Dawson, the UN Climate Change Conference currently underway in Durban needs to deliver on finance and mitigation issues for the Pacific to reap any substantial benefits.

“The Pacific Island group at Durban, through the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), needs to articulate the particular concerns of the Pacific and I think we do that increasingly well,” said Mr Dawson.

“One key issue for the Pacific will be finance – where and how will we get the funds to adapt to climate change?”

COP17 has attracted some 20,000 delegates and international climate change negotiators from across the globe. The conference opened on 28 November and will close 9 December. See www.unfccc.int for more information.

PACC impresses agencies with adaptation efforts

Mr Taito Nakalevu, Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Regional Project Manager

Durban, South Africa, 3 December - The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project presented to donors and implementing agencies during its side event at the 17th Conference of Parties held in Durban, South Africa showcasing progress and lessons learnt on their adaptation efforts on the ground.



It was an opportunity to hear first hand from the National Coordinators from Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu as they shared their achievements from their national projects that are to help local communities build resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Mr Paula Taufa, National Coordinator from Tonga

The presentation was a heart warming one for Dr. Pradeep Kurukulusuriya, he was pleased to see the actual implementation of adaptation work on the ground.

Dr Kurukulusuriya is the Senior Technical Advisor- Adaptation (Global) Green Low Emission Climate Resilient Development Strategies UNDP - Global Environment Facility.

“I have been associated with the PACC Project since 2005 when it was simply a five page concept and now to see these activities and impacts in place it is really encouraging to keep doing and supporting the Pacific region with accessing finance.”

Global Environment Facility Small Island Developing States Focal Point Mr Rawleston Moore.

A point raised by the PACC member countries was the need to upscale the project however the issue of accessing further funds would be a major challenge.

"We at GEF have started to scale up funding especially on the Special Climate Change Fund which most of the Pacific Island Countries are recipient of,” said the Global Environment Facility Small Island Developing States Focal Point Mr Rawleston Moore.

“We have managed to scale up funding and we should be up to about $500 million which is still short of the target. We know the kind of difficulty is there in raising funds in the Special Climate Change Fund however with a presentation on the actual on-the-ground adaptation efforts showcasing to donors the fruit of their investments assists them in a better position to raise that fund.”

Dr Kurukulusuriya highlighted the UNDP will continue to support the Pacific in accessing additional resources for adaptation, an area that they are continuing to strengthen in the region.

“The success we’ve had with mobilising funds from the Australian Agency for International Development for the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme partnership is an example of that, and we are also looking to expand other types of partnership with other Pacific Regional agencies to ensure that there is more resources and more support for countries in the Pacific as they embark on this long journey.”

H.E Ambassador Aliioaiga Feturi Elisaia, the Ambassador from Samoa to the UN shared his support of the adaptation efforts by the member countries under the PACC Project and highlighted the importance of partnership for sustainable outputs.

“For partnership to be sustainable there has got to be an element of trust and I think that has been shown by the presentation this afternoon.

“The presentation shared with us is what is actually happening on the ground and too often donors don’t get to hear our message but I also think of having this as an opportunity for the accountability process.

He added, “We need to ensure as a minimum that the Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries will take the floor in terms of the resources, whether it’s a million dollar fund or a billion dollar fund, by the time Pacific SIDS proposals are considered most of the funds is exhausted because we are competing with other countries; we have to be here in the international arena and we have to put our needs across.”

The PACC Project has 14 member countries and territories with the focus to enhance their adaptive capacity in three development sectors – Coastal Zone Management, Food Production and Food Security, and Water Resource Management.

The project is implemented by the UNDP in partnership with SPREP and funded by GEF and AusAID with support from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

L - R  Dr. Pradeep Kurukulusuriya United Nations Development Program Bangkok Technical Adviser in support of UNDP-Global Environment Facility Climate Change Adaption and H.E Ambassador Aliioaiga Feturi Elisaia, Samoa's Ambassador to the UN

A Rally for Our Survival

(Left) Ambassador Marlene Moses of Nauru at the Survival Rally

Durban, South Africa, 2 December - Ambassadors from small island nations joined a large crowd at the 17th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework to the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP17) in Durban South Africa to push back on new proposals that would delay a new climate treaty until 2020.

Activitsts at the rally

The Alliance of Small Islands States (AOSIS) is working hard to fulfil the moral and ethical obligation to protect their people and will reject any outcome in Durban that cannot ultimately safeguard the livelihoods and guarantee the survival of island nations.



Activitsts at the rally

If Durban puts off a legally binding agreement and closes the door on raising mitigation ambition before 2020 many of the small island states will be literally and figuratively doomed.

Ambassador Dessima Williams of Grenada the current Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States and Ambassador Marlene Moses of Nauru, the incoming Chair of AOSIS united with supporters and other Ambassadors to call for immediate climate action.

Mr Casper Supa (Solomon Islands)
with the United Sates
media at the rally

“We represent the people of our country – our food security will not survive, our water security and our survivability,” said Ambassador Moses.

Ambassador Williams added, “We are all connected as islands and the same message applies to the whole city of Durban. If we go under – Durban goes under.”

Activists marched through the streets of Durban
before arriving at the rally

“I live on the beachfront and from what I see from my hotel window, when the storm surges come, like our islands they cover the low lying parts of Durban. Your conference in Durban cannot condemn us without condemning itself. So our message is for all the people of Durban during COP 17 are that we are all small islanders, so don’t save us save yourself - we are one in the same.” 

Activists at the rally

Kiribati welcomes Australian carbon tax law



President Anote Tong in center, chairing a panel at the UNFCCC in Cancun



Tarawa, Kiribati, 2 December 2011 - The President of Kiribati, H.E. Anote Tong, has welcomed Australia’s carbon tax initiative, recently passed by the Australian Senate.

The Clean Energy Legislative Package, made into law when passed by the Senate on 8 November 2011, sets out the way that Australia will introduce a carbon price to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution and move to a clean energy future. According to the Australian Government, the initiative will allow the country to begin reducing emissions, developing and fostering new technologies in renewable energy, encouraging energy efficiency and creating opportunities in the land sector to cut pollution.

A fixed carbon price of AUD$23 a tonne will apply from 1 July, 2012, moving to a flexible price after three years.

The carbon price is a tax on pollution and will be paid by Australia’s largest polluters.

“I’ve said to the Australians that we commend what they are doing with the carbon tax,” said President Tong, calling on other developed countries to follow suit.

The Australian carbon tax initiative is one of the few undertakings to legalise national actions towards international commitments of reducing carbon emissions. Similar schemes exist in Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland and Ireland.

Kiribati, a small island nation of low-lying atolls scattered over more than five million square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean, is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of Climate Change.

Like other Climate Change-vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific, issues such as substantial coastal erosion, food security and lack of access to potable water haunt the day-to-day lives of the Kiribati people.

“The problem that we developing countries face, particularly small island developing countries, the SIDS, is we want to avoid bickering over what resources are coming forward because I think it’s got to be judged on the need – by the degree of vulnerability,” said President Tong.

“That has not been easy to get agreement on because everyone is vulnerable. I have no choice but to say we are very, very, very vulnerable.”

Key issues on Climate Change are currently being addressed in Durban, South Africa, at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 7th Session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties (CMP7) to the Kyoto Protocol.

Fourteen Pacific island countries are represented at COP17 under the banner of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). They include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Future Climate Change Projects for the Pacific: Showcased at the Island Pavilion

Ms. Elina Bardram of the European Commission presenting at the Island Pavilion

Durban, South Africa, 2 December – Future climate change projects in the Small Island Developing States were presented at the Island Pavilion during the Climate Conference in Durban South Africa this week.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) illustrated plans of what is to come in the Climate Change Division.

“SPREP is taking a strategic direction on future projects to implement adaptation measures, improve understanding of climate change, and raise the knowledge, information, public awareness and education on climate change and its issues;” said Mr Taito Nakalevu, SPREP Project Manager in the Climate Change Division.

“There are also plans to help understand the root causes of vulnerabilities, and to know the preparedness, response and recovery, and early warning systems.”

These objectives link to the global and regional frameworks such as the 1992 Framework Climate Change Convention, the second edition of the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change and the Pacific Meteorology Strategy of 2012 to 2015, amongst others.

SPREP has currently applied for regional implementing entity status, its application to the Adaptation Fund and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to help Pacific Island Countries that has yet to attain the National Implementing Entities.

“Financing for the programmes is vital for the Pacific Islands, although developed states may just be as vulnerable to climate change. The coping capacity for the island states is much lower than that of the bigger countries.”

The AusAID, USAID, the GIZ Support and the Commonwealth Secretariat are some of the donors that have injected funds into the Climate Change Division for future projects.

Also to present at the Future projects session was Dr Mark Bynoe of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and Ms. Elina Bardram of the European Commission. Dr Bynoe shared the work that is being undertaken in the Caribbean as part of the European Union Global Climate Change Alliance initiative and Ms. Bardram presented on Adaptation financing.

Rio Convention Pavilion: web of life at the Climate COP

Panel of speakers during the Ecosystem based Adaptation side event

Durban, South Africa, 2 December - Settled at the heart of the exotic beats of African drums and artistic climate change displays at the Climate Conference in South Africa, is the Rio Convention Pavilion, the hub for a range of interesting side events that are linked to the three Rio Conventions.

The Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate change and Desertification derived directly from the 1992 Earth Summit. It is at the Rio Conventions Pavilion that an exchange of lessons learnt from practises and scientific findings realised from the implementation of the three Conventions takes place.

“It’s a great initiative that has provided the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with a platform to share experiences under the Rio Conventions with people from all corners of the globe at these Conferences of the Parties,” said Nanette Woonton, the Media and Public Relations Officer of SPREP.

The Rio Convention Pavilion was launched during the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010, the Rio Conventions Pavilion convened at the margins of the CBD Conference of the Parties (CBD COP10) in Nagoya, Japan for which materials from SPREP were exhibited.

At the UNFCCC COP 16 in Cancun Mexico the Pavilion was held in ‘virtual’ format for which SPREP staged a side event that displayed and shared climate change solutions in the Pacific region.

In 2011, SPREP is yet again working in partnership with the Rio Conventions Pavilion through attending and sharing Pacific perspectives during the 10th Conference of the Parities to the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP10) and again at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework to the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 17).

The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project is being showcased at the Rio Convention Pavilion by SPREP and partners, which is held at the Climate Change and Response Expo hosted by the South Africa Department of Environment Affairs.

The Pavilion is a collaborative effort between the Secretariat of the three Rio Conventions and the Global Environment Facility, in addition to a growing list of other global and local partners.

For a full list of events happening at the Rio Convention Pavilion at the UNFCCC COP17 this year, please visit: http://www.riopavilion.org/

U.S. asserts it will meet pledge to help climate needs of

Newslink:  http://www.eenews.net/cw/


Lisa Friedman, E&E reporter

Published: Thursday, December 1, 2011

The United States spent more than four times as much money on clean technology investment as it did protecting vulnerable countries from the impact of climate change, according to a new

report the Obama administration released today at climate talks in Durban, South Africa.

Of the $3.1 billion the U.S. says it devoted to climate change efforts in 2011, about $563 million went toward helping poor communities build resilience to weather disasters. Meanwhile, $2.5

billion went toward a variety of programs to steer developing nations toward clean energy, mitigate carbon emissions and develop new renewable technologies.

The detailed accounting shows the U.S. on a path to meeting its unofficial share of commitment wealthy nations made at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit of $30 billion by 2012. Though nations were not allocated specific amounts, the U.S. expectation for most foreign aid accounts is roughly 20 percent.

Environmental groups said they are pleased that the administration is fighting for international climate aid and using existing programs to help address clean energy needs. But they also warned that some aid is undermining climate change efforts -- particularly through the Export-Import Bank -- and cautioned that adaptation needs are in danger of being pushed aside.

"We're certainly disappointed. It seems to be going in the wrong direction," said David Waskow, international climate change policy director at Oxfam America. He estimated the share of 2011 dollars going toward making communities resilient to climate change at just 18 percent.

In 2011, the administration said, it devoted $3.1 billion to global climate aid, bringing its total contribution so far to $5.1 billion. The funding is split between $1.8 billion in congressionally appropriated dollars and $1.3 billion in  loan guarantees and other export agency finance measures.

Bulk of aid through loans, loan guarantees

Loans, loan guarantees and other financing from the Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation was a cornerstone of the U.S. aid efforts and is expected to grow. Last year OPIC directed $310 million in financing to double the generating capacity of a geothermal plant in Kenya and invested $250 million in the development of solar projects in Thailand.

The Export-Import Bank, meanwhile, authorized $84.3 in loans to finance solar photovoltaic modules and equipment in Rajasthan, India. In all, the OPIC and ExIm Bank investments leveraged more than $2.3 billion in private investment, the administration said. 

Waskow argued that the presence of so much private investment in clean technology is yet another reason the U.S. should put its resources into areas where business has little interest in

investing: keeping poor communities safe from weather-related disasters. "For the majority of countries, their greatest interest is in resilience and adaptation," he said.

Others, meanwhile, noted that while the U.S. statement played up clean energy development, it failed to mention massive coal and other fossil fuel investments. Of particular concern to environmentalists is U.S. underwriting to the tune of $805 million the Kusile coal-fired power plant near Johannesburg, South Africa.

The 4,800-megawatt power station will emit 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year.

Meanwhile yesterday the African Climate Policy Center blasted developed countries and claimed that of the money put forward, less than $7 billion of it is new funding. 

African nations say vulnerability outpaces aid "African countries, as well as many other developing countries, are vulnerable to climate change and are among those least likely to have the resources required to withstand its adverse impacts -- yet there has not been any indication that the magnitude of climate finance will meet the scale of what is needed." Seyni Nafo, Spokesperson of the African Group said in a statement.

The report stands in contrast to a World Resources Institute report that found nation's pledges already reach more than $28 billion.

Jake Schmidt, international climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, acknowledged that many governments are counting old dollars -- but also noted that a number of countries began ramping up climate aid before Copenhagen because they knew more funding would be a key point for poor countries. The fact that some money is not new, he said, is less important than whether the dollars are used well.

"Here's the reality. The fast start funding commitment was made in December of 2009. As of January 1, all of a matter of two weeks after, they were supposed to have turned the pledge into firm legislation with money from their treasuries," Schmidt said.

The U.S. share, he said, is a "mixed bag." He praised the Obama administration for fighting to keep climate aid in the budget, but also warned against fossil fuel loans from ExIm and others.

"It is critical that all the money we have flowing is not digging us deeper into the hole but helping us to solve it."

Scene@COP17: Durban, South Africa

Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Adaptation Team

Support the Islands, wear a flower!

Greener mode of transport



Entertainment at the Climate Change Response Expo



Traditional entertainment at the Climate Change Response Expo

Interactive exhibition at the climate change booth

Island Pavilion: a taste of the Islands in Durban

Dr Netatua Pelesikoti addresses the room during the Question and Answer session 

Durban, South Africa, 1 December 2011 - There’s a corner office at the UN Climate Conference that has brought a taste of the islands to Durban, South Africa. Decorated with a bright sign and a poster of the Pacific, the Island Pavilion opened yesterday to a full room for the very first side event on climate change mitigation in the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

The Island Pavilion is a partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).

Pacific delegates outside the Island Pavilion

Over the course of the week side events have been planned during the lunch breaks of the conference. At 1.30pm each day different people will present on the different themes of the day.

Yesterday the Island Pavilion opened to a full room for the first side event on climate change mitigation in the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS).

Dr Joeri Rogelj, contributing author to the UNEP Emissions Gap Report presented on the Gigatonne Gap and the implications on Small Islands Developing States. This set the scene for the following presentations which included the release of the Pacific Renewable Energy DVD Series by SPREP.

Delegates showcasing the Pacific Renewable Energy DVD Series

The Pacific Islands Greenhouse Gas Abatement through Renewable Energy Project (PIGGAREP) aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Pacific region by 33% by 2015. There are 11 Pacific islands that are taking part in the event for which documentaries have been made outlining lessons learnt and achievements made.

Mr. Joseph McGann of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre made the final presentation on the background on mitigation actions within implementation.

Mr Joseph McGann

Over the course of the 17th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to the Framework on Climate Change, the Island Pavilion will be the venue to showcase the climate change work undertaken by the SIDS.

On Thursday the theme is Climate change mitigation in the SIDS, Friday it is Climate change adaptation, Saturday is the ‘marketplace’ day where there will be a sharing of different ideas. Each day the event starts at 1.30pm.

If you are attending the 17th Conference of the Parties and would like to visit the Island Pavilion, make your way to the country delegation offices beneath the main ICC building on lower level three. The venue holds free giveaways including flowers for delegates to wear to raise island visibility amongst the 20,000 delegates.

Pacific fights for survival at COP 17

ilNewslink:  http://www.acp.int/content/pacific-fights-survival-cop17

Deputy Director-General of SPREP, Mr Kosi Latu, delegate at ACP COP 17 Preparatory Meeting

 Brussels, 29 November 2011/ ACP Newsdesk: On an international scene fixated with the global financial crisis and the tangle of creating effective and sustainable development policies, Pacific nations join the UN’s COP17 climate change summit this week in Durban, South Africa with a very clear and basic focus – the survival of their peoples.

At a recent technical meeting in Brussels, delegates from Africa, Pacific and the Caribbean called for a “bold and innovative” approach to the global talks, looking towards a united ACP position on climate change.

For some Pacific members in particular, the issue is especially critical. The outcomes of COP 17 - convening 28 November to 9 December - could spell significant implications on their future as independent nations.

“It is true we have to look at with development, poverty reduction and building green economies. These are very important in addressing climate change. But for us in the Pacific it’s more than that,” said Deputy Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) Mr Kosi Latu, who presented the region’s position in Brussels mid-month.

“I’m talking about the survival of our peoples in the sense that due to climate change impacts, we stand to lose our land, our histories and cultures, our nationalities.”

The evacuation of entire seaside communities in Pacific countries due to climate change impacts have been widely publicised by local media, such as the cases of the Cateret Islands in Papua New Guinea and Tegua Island in Vanuatu, dubbed as the world’s first “climate change refugees”.

The governments of Tuvalu and Kiribati have also considered the bleak option of relocating their populations to neighbouring countries, even as increased flooding and storm surges across the region have cause damage to crops and infrastructure, as well as loss of life.

“It gives us the chills,” Samoan representative Josephine Stowers Fiu told ACP peers. “We’re talking about the lives of our people – what is going to happen in the next five, ten, twenty years. We need to push forward with a more stringent approach to seeking a legally binding agreement [on the global reduction of green house gas emissions].”

But selling the urgency of this message has been easier said than done, even amongst regional partners that make up the 79 members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States. While all agree on the need for a global binding agreement to be finalised in Durban, key differences have also emerged on a specific priority focus on the climate change debate.

“Sustainable development and poverty eradication are the priorities to Africa,” stated Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, Chair of the African Group.

Representing the largest sub-group in the ACP including 33 Least Developed Countries, the African region is primarily concerned with equitable resource sharing, climate change financing, capacity building and technology transfer.

Meanwhile in the Caribbean, the focus has been on improved disbursements of the US$ 100 billion in climate change funding pledged by developed countries by 2020. While the region shares geographical similarities with its Pacific partners, concerns tend to focus on economic growth, rather than actual survival.

To compound this, new challenges have emerged with recent key geopolitical developments since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. The global economic crisis is likely to dampen the push for more assistance. Meanwhile, emerging economies such as China, India, Russia, and South Korea are climbing the ranks as top ten global emitters. Yet under current agreements, they do not have the same emission obligations as those placed on developed nations.

“My big fear is that the financial crisis will negatively impact on the assistance we receive from developed countries. In fact, the question still remains whether these pledges will come as new funds, or simply the countries’ Overseas Development Assistance repackaged as climate change funds,” continued Mr. Latu.

While Pacific remains under threat of climate change effects, he has modest expectations for the outcomes of the Durban talks:

“Of course the aim for the Pacific region is to get a global binding agreement that will commit everyone to cut global emissions, but I am skeptical. At the very least however, we should at least finalise a concrete date for this to happen.”

The ACP climate change meeting in mid-November compiled a number of shared concerns to raise at COP17, including the need to limit the rise of the global surface temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels by 2100 and for all Parties work to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015.

ACP negotiators also called for disbursements of climate change funds to be resolved and mechanism in place for post-2012, when the first Kyoto Commitment Period ends.

"Climate change has been accepted as a reality - now we need the political will to make the necessary changes," added Mr. Latu. “We need radical solutions, and for us who are particularly vulnerable in the ACP Group – we need to be speaking with one voice.”

- Josephine Latu, ACP Press Attache