By Nic Maclellan
On one hand, the index finger is raised. On the other, five digits are displayed. One point five. 1.5 to stay alive.
In the midst of the global pandemic, Pacific delegations mobilised to campaign for more urgent action on climate change at this month’s 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. A central demand at the annual climate negotiations was to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
At the end of the negotiations, Pacific Islands Forum chair Voreqe Bainimarama concluded: “The 1.5-degree target leaves Glasgow battered, bruised, but alive. Vinaka to our Pacific negotiators for a heroic effort at . . .