Page 19 - IB July 2021

Economy Economy

Climate and resilience funding private sector engagement in this area, something PIPSO sup-
The Forum Secretariat continues its efforts to get the Pa- ports.
cific Resilience Facility (PRF) off the ground, and its progress Taloiburi said businesses in Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Tonga
also featured in FEMM discussions. The PRF’s key role will are already accessing Green Climate Fund readiness grants,
be to find financing to retro-fit existing community infra- and the private sector could also be a conduit for financ-
structure such as health centres, schools and jetties, and to ing, for example, in the insurance space. “At the moment,
construct new buildings and jetties/ports in order to improve a lot of our businesses are already doing that when there’s
communities’ resilience in the face of climate change. a cyclone. But it’s on an ad hoc basis. And we see the need
A planned PRF pledging event was delayed by the pandem- for countries to support private sector stakeholders in that
ic, but the economic ministers have asked the Forum Secre- regard,” said Taloiburi .
tariat to liaise with the Office of the UN Secretary General to The finance ministers were also asked to consider a carbon
find a date and work out the next steps for a global event. emissions levy—a tax placed on gas emissions with the funds
New Zealand announced it will contribute to the PRF, raised then used to address climate impacts—but that met
although no figures were mentioned. Forum Secretary General with some resistance.
Henry Puna expressed gratitude nonetheless: “We appreciate “That generated quite a lot of discussion,” said Paeniu, who
the commitment by New Zealand too, as it will open the door said some countries argued against having to shoulder the
to others.” burden of taxes when they are minimal contributors to global
Australia’s Zed Seselja said they support the initiative, gas emissions.
having provided A$400,000 in technical support to help PIFS “So there is that counter view that we need to tread cau-
develop the concept, without committing further funds at tiously and identify what are those negative impacts to the
this point. “We do support the idea of helping Pacific Island economies and to our people and to their livelihoods and see
countries in reducing their vulnerability to disaster risks and how that can be addressed.”
climate change and other hazards and we are doing a lot in
that space,” Seselja said. “We’re open to looking at whether Vaccines and WTO waiver
the Pacific Resilience Scheme can add to that work, but we Even in the face of a united front of Pacific Trade ministers,
have not made any final decisions on that.” Australia continues to balk on dropping trade restrictions on
Civil society organisations are urging government to ensure technologies and patents needed to build a broader produc-
that they are included in the implementation of the PRF, to tion base of critical supplies, including vaccines, testing kits
“ensure that the Facility is a truly Pacific-owned initiative and necessary medical materials.
that promotes equitable sharing and caring for each other,” Economic recovery hinges on vaccines being rolled out and
said Lavetanalagi Seru from the Pacific Islands Climate Action some level of herd immunity reached. Australia has commit-
Network. ted at least 20 million new doses for people in neighbouring
Beyond the PRF, the FEMM considered other modes of cli- countries across our region by mid-2022, with up to 15 million
mate financing, and how to streamline government oversight to the Pacific and Timor Leste, said Minister Seselja.
of this funding . But he remained non-committal on the question of whether
“In the past 10 years, around US$2.2 billion had been ap- Australia would support a proposal to waive a range of intel-
proved for our region. Out of that, about 98% is delivered as lectual property measures for COVID-19 vaccines and other
projects,” said Exsley Taloiburi, PIFS climate change adviser health technologies which is due to come before the World
ahead of the meeting. Trade Organisation again this week. Fiji and Vanuatu have co-
Taloiburi said the nature of this funding creates many chal- sponsored the move, which was instigated by India and South
lenges, as reporting requirements shift focus from ensuring Africa.
the resources “actually result in tangible outcomes in the “I think in the immediate term, getting vaccines into the
vulnerable communities.” region is most important and there are obviously some interna-
The Ministers considered a proposal to strengthen national tional processes that we are going through at the moment look-
public finance management systems so governments can ing at the implications for the TRIPS Waiver,” Seselja said.
directly access these funds, rather than see it all funnelled
through implementing agencies. They’ve also considered more editor@islandsbusiness.com

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