Pacific Small Island Developing States have urged G20 countries to reaffirm their commitment to the Paris climate agreement.
Following this week’s Climate Action Pacific Partnership (CAPP) event in Fiji, 12 Pacific states called for action from the world’s most powerful nations attending this weekend’s G20 summit in Germany.
Describing themselves as being on the front line of climate change, the Pacific states expressed deep concern that the United States government had indicated its intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and urged the US to reconsider.
They said current global warming of just over one degree celsius was already causing serious consequences for the Pacific region and that concerted action was needed to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial level.
That objective requires net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to Pacific states, who also called for action from the United Nations.
The states want the UN Secretary-General to appoint a Special Representative on Climate Change and Security, and for the UN Security Council to make climate change and security a permanent agenda item.
The Fiji meeting was a prelude to November’s COP23 UN climate talks in Bonn for which Fiji is the president.
Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama told the CAPP event in Suva that industrialized G20 nations were responsible for global warming.
“We have not caused this crisis, your nations have … the vulnerable nations expect you to meet … climate action commitments you have already made,” he said.
“But we also ask you to go a lot further … to deal effectively with the scale of the crisis the world is facing.”
Mr Bainimarama asked Australia and New Zealand to work side by side with Pacific nations to persuade the world to tackle the causes of global warming.
