Climate Countdown

The sirens have sounded on climate change. Pacific islands are on the frontline and some are facing an existential threat to their very existence. The world was watching in anticipation for a global deal on climate change at the Copenhagen summit, but we were left disappointed by the outcome. For the Pacific island states, the climate count down has well and truly started. And, for some there may be little time left.

Climate change threatens the region in a way that may warrant declaring a state of emergency - even if only to send a strong message to the international community. It is time to act and global mitigation targets must be ambitious. Rapid and significant reductions in emissions and switching to renewable energy sources are presented as the best options to start tackling what could end up being the greatest challenge of our time.

Global carbon trading has been offered as a win-win solution, especially for Pacific countries. Pay land owners not to cut down trees. It seems pretty straight forward and more than welcome in a region that has suffered devastating logging of forests. But the Clean Development Mechanism3 is anything but simple and does not include deforestation. The private schemes on offer so far only seem to benefit the fly-by-night opportunists. Dr Payet further notes that “carbon trading is just beating around the bush, it will not in itself reduce greenhouse gases. The problem is the structuring of the global financial system that rewards debt and resource exploitation. Most developing countries have energy legislation that is primitive and generally written by the corporate sector.”

Some Pacific island governments have moved to apply the technological advances that make renewable energy sources more viable. The rest of the region and the world should follow by putting in place renewable energy strategies and legislation. Regional collaboration could help with bulk purchasing to lower costs.

Harmonising donor spending will be even more critical as huge sums are made available for climate change adaptation. Best intentions not withstanding, any ad hoc application of these funds pose the risk of undermining efforts to address the wider development challenges. And the burden should not rest solely on Environment Ministries to coordinate the necessary whole of government responses required.

It’s time to act and address the Pacific’s development challenges, made all the more urgent by climate change 

In the lead up to Copenhagen, PiPP released a discussion paper canvasing the most important aspects of the debate in a Pacific context: the human impact of climate change, and how adaptation measures should be about meeting existing and future development challenges. A copy of the discussion paper can be downloaded here.

The peoples of the Pacific have a long history of adapting to change. With climate change, however, the challenge is global and there will need to be a sustained and co-operative effort by the world’s leaders to tackle it.

PiPP is an accredited observer to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).