64 villages in Fiji will be relocated to high grounds in the next few years due to climate change.
 
This has been revealed by Acting Prime Minister, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum at the Green Climate Fund 2nd High-Level Regional Workshop this week.
 
Sayed-Khaiyum says that three to four villages have already been relocated.
 
He says Pacific Island countries have to focus on adaptation rather than mitigation.
 
Sayed-Khaiyum said that they must take a holistic approach when they talk about funding and its accessibility so that they understand the capacity of the Pacific's vulnerability in their different economies.
 
He mentioned that there has definitely been an increase in the awareness of accessing funds and how to access the funds to help Pacific Islands adapt to climate change

Meanwhile, Pacific Island countries have been encouraged to seek funding in climate change mitigation projects and should not restrict themselves to climate change adaptation proposals as US$2.5 billion remain to be utilised by the Green Climate Fund.

There is potential in the region to pioneer in technological projects linked to mitigation such as the introduction of electrical vehicles, the fund's top executives said Tuesday.

Green Climate Fund co-chair Ewen McDonald, in an exclusive interview said there were more opportunities for mitigation projects in the region which could also secure funding through “regional and multi-country proposal” rather than an individual national project.

Climate change mitigation projects that aren't traditional in the region that could be explored are on energy, water, agriculture and transport by moving towards having electrical vehicles.

“This is about the transformation and the change. There is opportunity here to do mitigation project and the idea is because of the geographical location of the Pacific Island countries and the size of the countries to attract private sector interest to support your project,” McDonald said.

Tuvalu and Fiji are the only countries that have been given the green light for fund access for their adaptation projects in coastal adaptation and water supply and wastewater management project.

Zaheer Farik, who is also co-chair and the representative from the African region, said developing countries should focus on green growth projects.

“Sometimes your mitigation action is not about procrastination, it is about thinking about the future and how do you want to see your country in the future. There is potential in these developing countries to actually technologically lead from this. You can lead into having electrical vehicles, bus or whatever and not go through the same developmental process. It may sound crazy but Pacific Islands should not let it be a constraint by your lack of capacity. You need to dare to dream and that is what GCF is about,” Farik said.


SOURCE: FIJI VILLAGE/ FIJI TIMES/PACNEWS

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