By Pita Ligaiula in Honiara, Solomon Islands
Pacific Islands Forum Chair and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele says the signing of the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) treaty Wednesday marks a historic moment for the region, establishing the first Pacific-led and owned climate and disaster resilience financing institution.
“The Government and People of Solomon Islands are delighted to be hosting the 54th Forum Leaders Meeting that also marks the signing of the Agreement to Establish the Pacific Resilience Facility,” Manele said at the ceremony.
He praised members for their commitment to see the PRF through. “Now we will finally establish our very first Pacific- led, owned and managed, regional climate and disaster resilience financing facility, dedicated to our people and communities, at the front line of climate change.”
Manele thanked past Forum Chairs from the Cook Islands and Tonga for reviving the vision after the Covid-19 pandemic. He said the PRF embodies the theme of the 54th Forum Leaders Meeting: “Iumi Tugeda: Act Now for an Integrated Blue Pacific Continent.”
“This is ours. This is the Pacific’s response, by the Pacific, for the Pacific, to structural barriers we face in accessing global climate financing, which is still too slow, too little, too complex and unpredictable,” he said.
The PRF will be hosted in Tonga, where a Heilala tree was planted to mark its transition.
Manele said it would be a “game-changing institution” that must outlive current leaders and deliver resources directly to communities without creating debt burdens.
“We must be bold and audacious in our vision to imagine, that the time will come, where the PRF will mobilise climate resources to national and community levels, and will possess the ability to harness resources that will be greater than the sum of our parts. This is the power of our solidarity.”
Calling for urgency, he urged partners to match the Pacific’s determination.
“We must act together now to galvanise our collective political will and power to make it known to our partners when
we meet them at the 80th Session of the General Assembly on 23rd September in New York that the Pacific will not settle for anything less than what we are asking for.”
Manele reaffirmed the ambition to secure every dollar of the US$159 million pledged so far, raise US$341 million by the end of 2026, and reach the PRF’s initial capitalisation target of US$500 million before scaling up to US$1.5 billion for a 1.5-degree world.
