By Pita Ligaiula in Honiara, Solomon Islands
Pacific Islands Forum Leaders will on Wednesday sign a treaty to establish the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), a regional fund aimed at building community preparedness and resilience against climate change and frequent disasters.
PRF General Manager Finau Soqo said the signing would mark a major step in making the facility a legal entity.
“We are looking at 10 to 13 members who have indicated their readiness to sign. We don’t want to overestimate or underestimate the numbers. We want to extend our sincere gratitude to members, especially officials, that really worked hard to deliver on this mandate,” Soqo told Pacific Journalists in Honiara.
He said some members were expected to move quickly to ratification.
“In order for the treaty to come into force we need eight instruments of ratification – that’s the host Tonga and seven others. Once the PRF becomes a legal entity, it becomes real. One thing is to sign; the other is for it to be ratified.”
Soqo explained the signing would also unlock further financing.
“The treaty signing will trigger a series of processes including a core of those pledges as well as invitation to other sovereign investors to formally pledge to fundraise the rest of the US$341 million. Japan is the first country to pay into the PRF over external foreign investors. The enabling factor for us to reach the US$341 million by the end of 2026 is the Pacific hosting COP31 in Australia – that will really help us to fundraise the US$500 million.”
He said the fundraising target had been adjusted for practical reasons.
“The size of fundraising was reduced from US$1.5 billion to US$500 million, not because our needs are less, but because we need to scope it in a way that would be practical for us to reach the US$500 million first and then go for US$1.5 billion after.”
Soqo stressed the PRF was a first-of-its-kind regional facility.
“It is going to be our first Pacific-led, owned, and managed disaster financing facility dedicated to communities.
“The treaty our leaders will sign establishes the PRF as the first international financial institution under international law led by the Pacific,” she said.
The facility has so far secured US$159 million in pledges from nine investors.
Civil society groups have welcomed the move but raised concerns about access and oversight.
“Channelling finance directly into the PRF is good, but we still need to know more about how the PRF will actually serve communities that are on the frontline. We hope the PRF has the ability to reach directly into communities and that it is driven by communities and their needs,” Dr Sindra Sharma of the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network told Pacific media in Honiara.
Pacific Conference of Churches General Secretary, Reverend James Bhagwan, said civil society must not be left out.
“In 2020, civil society and church groups launched the idea of a community-led funding facility. This is one of our concerns – within the PRF, where is the voice and oversight role for civil society about where the money goes?” he asked.
