For Pacific island states, climate change is an existential threat – The Diplomat

Oceania

President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change agreement has raised widespread concerns across the Pacific. Pacific island states are among the most vocal advocates of aggressive carbon reduction targets, and the Paris Agreement was well received at the time of its creation by Pacific island states.

For many Pacific island states, current predictions of sea level rise due to climate change will have severe repercussions on their territory. For island states such as Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, sea level rise is a real and immediate existential threat. These island states exist on territory that rises only a few meters above sea level at best. This means that any sea level rise, no matter how gradual, eats away at their very limited. Current sea level rise of 2 meters by 2100 would mean near total submergence for these three states.

Other Pacific island states will also be heavily affected. Five low islands of the Solomon Islands archipelago have already been submerged. Changes in geographic features and water temperatures have also possibility to modify fish stocks on which Pacific island states depend for their food security.

The global and stateless nature of the phenomenon of climate change is well understood by the Pacific Islands. With little ability to curb this threat to their existence themselves, these countries are counting on the big players to initiate reforms that could prevent more drastic warming of the atmosphere, oceans and land surfaces.

Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga was so concerned about Trump’s decision that he ordered his country’s officials to cancel all cooperation with the United States until Washington had put in place a new policy. on climate change. Regarding Trump’s decision, Sopoaga said“I think it makes no sense to talk about anything else if we don’t address climate change… We are very, very distressed, I think that’s a very destructive and obstructive statement from a leader of perhaps the biggest polluter on the planet and we are very disappointed as a small island country that is already suffering from the effects of climate change.

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For Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, a man who has set himself up as a global champion of the interests of Pacific island states, the decision was disappointing, but he remained hopeful that international cooperation could still result, saying “I have done what I can — along with many leaders around the world — to try to persuade President Trump to stand side by side with us as we face the greatest challenge our planet has ever faced. . While the loss of American leadership is unfortunate, it is a struggle that is far from over.

Trump’s decision came just before Fiji assumed the presidency of Conference of Parties (COP), the annual forum of countries that signed the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The forum will be held in Bonn, Germany, from November 6-17 this year.

Fiji’s presidency is historic as it is the first small island developing state to hold the presidency. Fiji’s presidency was designed to highlight the problems that climate change is producing for Pacific island states – not just sea level rise, but more intense weather events causing severe destruction, such as the cyclone Winston last year, which caused damage assessed at 10% of the country’s GDP.

In his speech at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in May (precursor to the COP23 forum in November), Bainimarama reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to the goals and implementation of the Paris Agreement. He set out his vision that the Fiji Presidency of the COP would have the interests of small island states at the center of its concerns, wishing to form a coalition of partners to help these states build resilience in the face of rising sea levels. and extreme weather events. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement severely undermines Bainimarama’s position and Fiji’s leading role in a major multilateral forum.

While Pacific island leaders were disappointed with Trump’s decision, the fact that other major powers have reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement will bring them some comfort. The recent India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference held in Suva, Fiji, is an indication that other major powers have an understanding of the situation in which the Pacific Island States find themselves. The hope will be that the recalcitrance of the great world power will only be temporary, and a future administration will reaffirm commitment to the Paris goals.