The Pacific Islands Forum’s new Secretary General, Baron Waqa, arrived in Tonga Thursday, ahead of the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, which opens in Nuku’alofa on Monday 26 August.
He said the time has come for climate action at this meeting, that brings together leaders from 18 members from across the Pacific Ocean. Pacific climate resilience and mitigation loom large in his thinking, as it does for those leaders who are committed to a 2050 strategy for the Pacific, to move beyond policy deliberation to implementation – to achieve transformation by “building better now”. Essentially, this is the theme for the conference.
But leaders recognise that these issues come on top of many other difficult development issues that Pacific communities need to fund, including health and education and other urgent needs, SG Waqa said.
Founded in 1971, the Pacific Islands Forum is the region’s top political and economic organisation. Leaders meet annually to develop collective responses to regional issues. The SG acts as Secretary to the Pacific Islands Forum and is responsible for the management of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
On Thursday, soon after landing, Secretary General Waqa and Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, host and chair of the 53rd leaders meeting, visited the new accommodation centre that has been built on rapidly reclaimed swampland at Popua. Named “Niu Lodge” the cluster of container housing units will be home for many of the estimated 1000 visitors arriving in Nuku’alofa for the four-day meeting that runs to 30 August.
The Secretary General and the Prime Minister met Tongan and Pacific Islands journalists there at a reception hosted by the PIF secretariat.
SG Waqa said he had visited the site only a couple of months ago when the landfill work was just starting and, he admitted, he wondered if the accommodation would be finished in time, but Tonga’s PM had assured him it would be finished. “A great job has been done,” said Waqa.
PM Sovaleni said to accommodate the meeting the Tonga government had a choice of bringing in a cruise ship or building housing. “A cruise ship would take all the money we had for hosting, but by doing this [housing], after the meeting we will still have this facility for the Tonga Tourism Sector to develop.”
To reach the centre, we had to drive along a new road that has been built through a fairly recent Tongan settlement in the mangroves, where the capital’s expanding population is building homes that are, clearly, highly vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise and climate change. This fact will not be lost on the delegates who will stay in this exposed area.
Our first task on arriving at the windward side of the Niu Lodge restaurant, was to help move the tables from the verandah, to the sheltered side of the building, to escape strong winds sweeping in from the Pacific, over the land that is barely above sea-level. The conversation was about resilience and what it means.
We all know that resilience against the weather means changing, and doing it now.
Baron Waqa is a staunch advocate for climate action, recognising the existential threat that climate change poses to Pacific Island countries.
He is committed to working with member states to implement effective climate strategies, enhance disaster resilience, and secure climate financing. Leaders are looking for partners to invest in their 2050 strategy.
The Tongan PM said in recent years the leaders decided to establish a regional fund so it could be “be tailored more to our needs,” and to mobilize the concept of a Blue Pacific Continent.
“I think we played a very key role in actually getting the message out to those who may want to help especially with resilience with the Pacific Resilience Facility and mitigation.”
The reframed and re-designed PRF was endorsed by Forum Economic Ministers Meeting in August 2023.
The Prime Minister welcomed a group of young Pacific Islands journalists who have been attending a Pacific Islands Forum/PINA (PacMAS, UNODC and SP) sponsored training workshop in Nuku’alofa this week. They are among the first of about 80 media professionals expected to arrive in Tonga over the next few days.
“It is great to actually meet some of you without fielding questions and a sense of respect that we give to journalists, the fact that they go out of their way to find information and to find the facts to inform their listeners or their viewers about noteworthy events and issues,” PM Sovaleni told the journalists.
“The fact is we need you and you need us. You need us for information but we also need you to actually disseminate the information out about some of those key issues, and we look forward to engaging with you in the next couple of days.”
The PIF Secretariat congratulated the five senior Tongan journalists present on their collective experience of “over 100 years’ service in journalism” (actually a total of 229 years): Pesi Fonua 57 years, since 1967; Mary Lyn Fonua 54 years since 1970; George Lavaka 48 years since 1976; Katalina Tohi 38 years since 1986; Filo ‘Akau’ola 32 years since 1992.
High level delegates started arriving in Tonga this week with more arriving Friday and Saturday. The UN Secretary General Guterres and the Commonwealth Secretary General are expected to attend.
