Fiji has called for greater integration of ocean themes across this year’s COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Speaking at the Pacific Climate Champions High-Level Panel Event on the sidelines of the COP29, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Hon. Biman Prasad said that like other small island nations in the Pacific, Fiji faces direct threats from climate change through rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and increasingly severe weather events.
Reflecting on the recently published Ocean Climate Change Dialogue 2024 report, DPM Prasad said it focused on community-based coastal biodiversity conservation as well as on finance and technology to increase ocean-based climate change action.
“Fiji is an oceanic nation, where the ocean gives us life and we are its stewards,” DPM Prasad said.
“It is threatened by climate change and is also responsible for absorbing greenhouse gases. For us, it must be at the centre of climate discussions.”
He said while SIDS member countries continue to work closely through their alliances to amplify calls for stronger commitments to ocean protection and climate adaptation at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sessions, they have also seen the advancement of negotiations under other multilateral agreements.
“As custodians of the world’s largest ocean, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we have the means to accelerate climate action,” he said.
“Ambitious actions taken at Baku are needed to accelerate climate action, assuring we can protect the marine ecosystems, on which Fiji and all planetary life depends.”
Meanwhile, Fiji and the Pacific have made limited progress on key climate issues at COP29, raising concerns for vulnerable communities.
Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Dr Sivendra Michael highlighted this shortfall during the stocktake session at the close of the conference’s first week.
As the second week begins, there are growing hopes that the pace and ambition of negotiations will accelerate.
However, by the end of week one, only a handful of agenda items had progressed to procedural decisions, raising serious doubts about the speed of progress.
Dr Michael stressed the need for Pacific delegates to move beyond procedural discussions and engage directly with the core issues outlined in the negotiation texts.
He emphasised that Fiji and the Pacific must secure an ambitious outcome on the global goal of adaptation, a key issue that has been on the table since the COP in Glasgow.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad also reiterated that a concrete agreement on climate finance must be reached if meaningful progress is to be made.
With COP29 scheduled to conclude on November 22, all eyes are on the upcoming week of negotiations.
There is hope that the promises made by the presidency will translate into tangible action particularly for the Pacific countries who are most at risk from the escalating climate crisis.
