pacific summit to issue climate message to world
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Pacific summit to issue climate message to world

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchroniclePacific summit to issue climate message to world

A cemetery on the shoreline in Majuro Atoll is flooded in 2008
Port Moresby - AFP

Vulnerable Pacific island nations will this week send the world an urgent plea for action on climate change at crunch talks in Paris later this year.

Some Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) countries lie barely a metre (three feet) above sea level and fear they will disappear beneath the waves without drastic intervention from major polluters.

The 15-nation regional grouping, meeting in Port Moresby from Monday, has long complained of bearing the brunt of climate change, even though its members make a miniscule contribution to global carbon emissions.

For more than a decade, the annual PIF summit has heard details of eroding coastlines, increasingly destructive storms and crops ruined by encroaching seawater.

Villagers in the Marshall Islands have seen graveyards swamped, while tiny Kiribati has purchased a large block of land in Fiji in case its entire population needs to relocate.

Palau President Tommy Remengesau said the Pacific's plight should prick the conscience of delegates from 195 nations who will meet in Paris in December seeking a breakthrough climate deal.

"What is happening is non-uniform, rapid, extreme and destructive in impact and consequences," said Remengesau, who is also the PIF president.

"There is immediate danger for all small island countries. Climate change is causing serious damage now, it is not an event of the future," he told AFP.
The so-called COP21 talks in Paris will seek a binding deal to take effect in 2020 that will commit all nations to emissions cuts.

The goal is to limit average global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

 

- 'Unviable very soon' -

 

Former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer said the Paris talks could determine the future of Pacific territories such as Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tokelau.

"If you get a metre of inundation by the tides then some of those countries are going to become unviable very soon," he told a climate discussion in Wellington organised by the French embassy.

"You're looking there at the destruction of a culture. This is terrible and we're not doing anything about it."

Australia and New Zealand, the two largest PIF members, have been accused of dragging their feet on climate change, but Kiribati President Anote Tong said small island nations would not allow them to water down the PIF's call for action.
"I don't know what problems these countries have... but we'll have a very big problem if we don't have strong language," he said. "We need action as soon as possible."

Another issue set for discussion at the PIF meeting is a clampdown on civil rights in Nauru which prompted New Zealand on Wednesday to suspend foreign aid to the country's justice sector.

The UN and United States have called for restoration of basic freedoms in Nauru, saying they are fundamental to democracy, and New Zealand has said it will air its concerns in Port Moresby.

The Pacific's multi-billion dollar tuna industry will also be under scrutiny. It is an economic lifeline for some nations but vulnerable to poaching and overfishing.

The talks are also set to touch on regional integration, potentially allowing French Polynesia in as a full member, and curbing an obesity epidemic in the Pacific.

 

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

pacific summit to issue climate message to world pacific summit to issue climate message to world

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 07:55 2018 Wednesday ,10 January

UN urges Israel to scrap African migrant relocation plan

GMT 11:05 2018 Friday ,05 January

Child mummy in Italy had hepatitis, not smallpox

GMT 13:18 2017 Sunday ,15 October

Some IS foreign fighters have left Raqa under deal

GMT 07:20 2018 Wednesday ,03 January

US conservatives cheer on Iran's 'brave' protesters

GMT 12:18 2017 Tuesday ,25 July

BOD launches & appoints PR

GMT 17:32 2017 Thursday ,02 November

In Portugal, corks still top screwcaps

GMT 09:25 2017 Saturday ,21 October

US existing home sales edge up in September

GMT 21:15 2017 Thursday ,28 September

Saudi government praises localization of products related
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle