Page 33 - Islands Business March 2022
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        Scenes from the opening of the Blackrock camp in Nadi, Fiji. Photos: ZoomFiji, Samantha Magick


        (US$4.96 million) invested in the Pacific Games, all acting as   Politically, there remains a vast divide between Australia
        incentives for continued engagement.                and Fiji positions on how to respond to the climate emergen-
         Other Pacific nations would like to get involved in interna-  cy. But as with so much in this space, pragmatism reigns when
        tional peacekeeping missions. For example, last year Kiribati   it comes to where their interests align.
        said it would like to send police on UN deployments, and UN-  “The climate war will not be won with guns, ammo, and
        POL said it would look into placements that would not require   artillery. It will be won with seawalls, resilient infrastructure,
        firearms use.                                       and cutting-edge technology,” Bainimarama said at the open-
                                                            ing. “It will be won through facilities such as Blackrock where
         Climate change contingencies                       we will elevate training, preparedness, and response capabili-
         Fiji and Australia recently cooperated on relief missions   ties for both traditional conflict and humanitarian disasters to
        to Tonga following the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga   a world-leading level.”
        Ha’apai volcano and ensuing tsunami, deploying military per-  The need to respond to climate change is bringing about
        sonnel and supplies.                                changes in the RFMF, as it reconfigures its engineering, hu-
         Blackrock is designed to be a launch pad for such humani-  manitarian and disaster response capabilities, he added.
        tarian and disaster responses, with non-perishable supplies   “From this operational hub and with the training this Camp
        prepositioned there to enable quick deployment.     provides, your troops will belong in every disaster-related
         At the opening, Prime Minister Bainimarama claimed the Fiji   deployment in the region. Whether they are super-storms in
        military forces were the “world’s most battle-tested veterans   Vanuatu, bushfires or floods in Australia, volcanic eruptions in
        in the climate war upon us”, saying its engineering corps have   Tonga, or social upheavals in Solomon Islands and Bougainville
        built homes, schools, medical facilities and other infrastruc-  — you are who the Pacific calls upon.”
        ture.


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