Page 38 - IB September 2018 Edition

climate change

From page 29 Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands – that
would spell catastrophe.
the global business community bring- So at every opportunity, Bainimarama
ing its energy, enterprise and wealth to has been stressing the urgency of more
the task of developing more innovative ambition. And even after he surrenders
and transferrable clean energy solu- the COP presidency to Poland in Decem-
tions and more effective carbon storage; ber – assuming he wins the coming elec-
and of tapping the grassroots activism, tion – intends to take the fight on behalf
enthusiasm and passion of civil society of Pacific Island nations all the way to
and billions of ordinary people around the New York summit and beyond.
the world.
All this is keeping Bainimarama away As COP23 President, Frank Bainimarama has pressed for The importance of Pacific solidarity
from Fiji at a critical time in the count- more ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement. Having told the Fijian Parliament back
down to the national election sometime in March that “God helps those who
before 21 November. help themselves,” Bainimarama is also
Yet as he sees it, it is simply too sions. adamant that Pacific nations must play
important for the future of the entire Talanoa sessions have asked for their own part in raising ambition.
world to do otherwise and he regards his responses to three simple questions. Fiji intends to raise its own NDC and
COP presidency above all as mission to Where are we? Where do we need to is hoping that its neighbours will do the
ensure the survival of the Fijian people be? And how do we get there? Sessions same with the assistance of the NDC Re-
and every Pacific Islander. have since taken place across the world gional Hub that is another COP23 legacy.
Bainimarama certainly has the strong in locations as disparate as Belgium, But above all, Bainimarama believes
backing of a host of global climate lead- South Africa and Uruguay and Talanoa the Pacific - the island nations and
ers ranging from France’s President sessions were also slated as centrepieces their larger neighbours – must pres-
Emmanuel Macron to The Terminator of September’s California Global Climate ent a united front if they are to make
turned climate warrior, Arnold Schwar- Action Summit and COP24 in Poland in their voices heard above the competing
zenegger. Because while a small nation December. agendas in the rest of the world over the
like Fiji can’t hope to force the industrial Fiji and Poland have been given coming months. Fiji convened meetings
giants of the world into more ambitious formal joint carriage of the Talanoa of Pacific leaders and negotiators last
action, Bainimarama’s strenuous ad- Dialogue. And as Frank Bainimarama July and October before the COP23 in
vocacy has demonstrably helped place sees it, it is a critical tool in achieving Bonn in November, and convened them
climate action at the top of the global more ambition all the way to the 2019 again this July at Suva’s Climate Action
agenda. Climate Summit that has been convened Pacific Partnership Conference.
by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Right from the start, the Fijian COP
The importance of the Talanoa Gueterres, in New York next September. presidency has stressed that to be effec-
Dialogue That summit has been specifically tive, the regional and global response to
Of all the many pluses that have called to ask the nations of the world climate change must be concerted and
flowed from Fiji becoming the first Small to increase the ambition of their NDCs effective. And while Frank Bainimarama
Island Developing State to preside over to meet the scale of the climate threat, has expressed disappointment at Donald
the UN negotiations, undoubtedly the which is now judged to be even more Trump’s scepticism and especially his
most important is the legacy it will leave grave than when the Paris Agreement intention to withdraw from the Paris
behind through the Talanoa Dialogue, was reached three years ago. Agreement, he made a point of saying
which captured the imagination of del- Ever since he assumed the COP that the door was always open to the US
egates at the May negotiating sessions Presidency, the Fijian leader has been President to join the fight.
of COP in Bonn and seems set to become pressing for the adoption of the more The same applies to the climate scep-
a permanent feature of the UN system. ambitious target of the Paris Agreement, tics in Australia. Because as time goes
Based on the Pacific concept of which is to limit global warming to no by, it’s a “dead cert” - as the Aussies
respectful and blameless personal en- more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above say - that if they are not feeling the
gagement being the best way to achieve that of the pre-industrial age. Yet on the political heat right now, they soon will
accountability and change, the Talanoa current NDCs that have been submitted, be. Because as the COP23 president also
concept has taken off as a means of the world is said to be on course for an continually stresses: “We are all vulner-
helping to achieve higher ambition in average global temperature of at least able and we must all act.”
the climate struggle and to raise the three degrees by century’s end.
Nationally Determined Contributions In the Pacific -the world’s most vul- Graham Davis (gdavis1500@gmail.
(NDCs) that every nation has already nerable region with the predicted loss com) is a Fijian member of the COP23
made to reduce greenhouse gas emis- already of three entire nations, Kiribati, communications team.

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38 Islands Business, September 2018