ERC -- Pacific Calling Partnership -- Statements & Declarations

Official opening of the Pacific Calling Partnership Visit

Official opening of the Pacific Calling Partnership Visit: Opening Remarks by Hon Amberoti Nikora, Bairiki Stadium,  August 31, 2010

Members of the delegation to the Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP)

Members of the Kiribati Climate Change Connection (KCCC)   

Invited guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Kam na bane ni mauri

It is indeed an honor for me to officially declare the opening and launching of this important collaborative effort to have the Pacific Calling Partnership here in Kiribati.   

At the outset, I would like to show our appreciation to your significant support of Kiribati’s position on Climate Change as an extremely vulnerable Pacific Island State.  I sincerely hope that this visit that you have longed planned to our shores will be eventful and instrumental to gathering first-hand information and testimonials representing real evidences of the adverse impacts of climate change in Kiribati.

Recalling on the results of various reports and community consultations undertaken in the past clearly indicates that climate change is a real threat to our environment, our economic activities and social status.  Kiribati is among the first countries to be affected by climate change and sea level rise.

Intense rainfall in the recent past months has been the major agent to the destruction of our physical assets especially our road and now a dry weather that may last for months.  However, severe and intense storm surges also continue to cause disturbances to our ecosystems, limited groundwater sources and to our people.  Incidences of severe erosion were common and emerging risks from all islands of Kiribati.  The greatest risk facing us is the fate of our culture, our heritage, our language – which forms the identity of our Kiribati society.  These are among other moral challenges that we, as present leaders of today need to cooperate in tackling.

We acknowledge PCP’s presence in the Kiribati side-event in Copenhagen and for choosing Kiribati to be one of their examples, among others, in their advocacy on climate change in Copenhagen, Australia and other places.

I believed that this global problem of climate change requires a global solution, and for this reason, Kiribati with its inadequate capacity cannot influence the global arena to understand the very problem we are facing – a problem - which Kiribati as a nation is not responsible for.  In this respect, I call upon PCP to further provide support to the Kiribati delegation with their planned events in the upcoming round of global conference on climate change in Cancun, Mexico.  My Ministry and the Office of the Beretitenti would be willing to explore with your delegation options as the need in this regard.  We cannot do this immense task alone so we need your support from our friends including PCP.       

At the international front, Kiribati joins the groups of small islands developing states (AOSIS) and the least developed (LDCs), in calling for a comprehensive,  legally binding treaty, one that responds comprehensively to the scale and seriousness of the climate challenge. 

Further to the foregoing my Ministry is working with various communities in some islands in Kiribati , to build our natural resilience to withstand the impacts of climate change through mangrove replanting to minimize the impacts of coastal erosion.  We are encouraged to witness such initiatives from our own people, which are win-win situations which are multi-sectoral in nature to improve our biodiversity and land degradation.

With these few remarks I now declare this gathering officially open.

Kam bati n raba

 

Media statement from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)

Please click here (PDF, 55kb) to read a media statement from the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

The statement welcomes declarations of support for stronger climate targets, to limit temperature increases to as far below 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible, from figures as diverse as the Group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the World Council of Churches, Lord Nicholas Stern and the IPCC's chief scientist Rajendra Pachauri.

At the front line of climate change's impacts, AOSIS is the moral voice of the negotiations, and was recently joined by the Group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in demanding that the new Copenhagen climate agreement limit temperature increases to as far below 1.5 degrees Celsius as possible. AOSIS targets have been supported recently by IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri and leading UK economist and climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern.

Serious adverse impacts are already being felt by island states at the current 0.8°C of warming, including coastal erosion, flooding, coral bleaching and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. The U.N.'s lead agency on refugees has already warned that some particularly low-lying island states are 'very likely to become entirely uninhabitable' as a result of climate change. AOSIS is therefore calling for the negotiations to produce an ambitious and environmentally credible outcome sufficient to safeguard the livelihood and survival of its member countries.

Pacific Calling Partership Strategic Plan for 2009.

Click here to read the plan for 2009

Twelve people from several different organisations that make up the Partnership came together on 30 January and decided on the major directions for the the Partnership for 2009. The meeting that decided that during 2009 our main focus will be to link the local with the global as decisions made at Copenhagen are going to be crucial to the future of the Pacific Islands.

Pasifika Youth Declaration on Climate Change

"As Pasifika Youth, we call upon our leaders to move us in unison towards a cleaner, greener, sustainable future for all.".......

Click here to read the full declaration (Doc, 34kb )

Small islands win UN vote on climate change security

Small Pacific islands vulnerable to rising sea levels won a symbolic victory at the United Nations on Wednesday with the passage of a resolution recognizing climate change as a possible threat to security.
By Claudia Parsons UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Reuters)

The non-binding resolution, passed by consensus by the General Assembly, may help put climate change on the agenda of the more powerful U.N. Security Council, which deals with threats to international peace and security.

General Assembly resolutions are largely symbolic but can carry moral weight. Several representatives said this one was important as the first to explicitly link climate change to security -- a principle previously resisted by powerful Security Council members including Russia and China, who questioned whether the issue belonged in the Security Council.

"We are of the firm view that the adverse impacts of climate change have very real implications for international peace and security," Nauru Ambassador Marlene Moses told the General Assembly, speaking on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States which introduced the resolution. Moses said small islands were already experiencing the "dire and immediate impacts" of climate change, including the inundation of coastal areas, the submergence of islands, loss of freshwater supplies, flooding, drought, damaged crops and increased disease.

The resolution said the 192-member General Assembly was "deeply concerned that the adverse impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise, could have possible security implications." It invited all relevant U.N. bodies to intensify efforts to address climate change and asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to submit a report on possible security implications.

Agreed after months of bargaining, the resolution was passed as climate change negotiators from 181 governments meet in Bonn, Germany for talks on a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December. Governments face six months of tough negotiations on a draft text they have accepted as a starting point for talks on a treaty to curb the use of fossil fuels and widen the fight against climate change beyond the existing Kyoto Protocol.

(Edited by Alan Elsner) http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03111543.htm

Religious leaders express concern over Australian Government's inadequate response to climate change

Over 60 religious leaders and prominent religious individuals wrote to the Prime Minister, ahead of the release of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme exposure draft legislation, to express their deep concerns with the Government's inadequate response to climate change.

The letter urges the Government to address its weak greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and to help shape a strong international agreement on climate change at Copenhagen. It claims that the 5-15% emission reduction target range by the year 2020 represents a failure to protect lives and livelihoods, and emissions must fall by at least 25% in industrialised countries if the world is to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change.

To read the full statement go to

http://www.arrcc.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=164:pm-under-pressure-from-religious-leaders-on-climate-change&catid=1:arrcc-news&Itemid=8

Calling out Across the Seas

Many members of the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes NSW (CLRINSW) attended our forum, 'Pacific Calling for Climate Justice', in October last year. They have included a report of the forum in the December issue of the WaterMark publication.
It can be found at http://www.clrinsw.org/current/soc_just/sj_08w12p.pdf

Report on the Climate Summit to Summit participants and Climate Action Groups

At least five people from organisations that belong to the Pacific Calling Partnership attended the Climate Summit in Canberra from 31 Jan till 3 Feb 2009. Below is a message from the Summit organisers:
Thank you to all who participated in Australia’s Climate Action Summit for making it such an extraordinary and inspiring event. Over 500 people from over 140 groups and organisations attended the Summit. It was the first of its kind to bring together the grassroots climate movement from across Australia, to discuss and strategise a shared direction for 2009 and beyond. The group was large and diverse, yet the willingness to work together was palpable. While some people attended skills workshops and discussion groups, others formed teams to develop the network structure and a national campaign – often late into the evenings. Among the outcomes of the Summit, participants unanimously agreed on a shared movement-wide campaign to:

• Prevent the CPRS from becoming law, as it will fail to make emission cuts necessary to stop the climate emergency.
• Build community-wide action to demand green jobs, a just transition for fossil fuel industry workers and 100% renewable energy by 2020.
• Aim for stabilisation at 300ppm CO2 and strong international agreement in line with what science and global justice demands.

A timeline of national events, with the first in late March, has also been agreed. A process for finalising the structure of the new network has been proposed, following 3 days of work by the network-building stream of the Summit. This will be finalised over the next several weeks. Other outcomes of the Summit are available on the Climate Summit website. A draft, voluntary policy sign on statement was agreed. On the Monday night, inter-movement climate talks were held between the major ENGOs and representatives of the grassroots movement, to facilitate dialogue between the different arms of the movement. On the Tuesday, 35 politicians including Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Shadow Climate Change Minister Greg Hunt were visited by members of community climate groups in a lobbying blitz on Parliament House. In a moving culmination of the Summit, on the first day of Federal Parliament in 2009, 2500 people formed a human chain around Parliament House to send a “climate emergency” message to the Rudd government. It was a peaceful and powerful display of our intent to put climate change at the top of the political agenda in 2009. The event was well covered by the media, including stories on ABC Lateline, Radio National, The Age and the Canberra Times. Several community climate group members had their first opportunity to be media spokespeople, and did us all proud. The 4-day Summit was truly a historic event – and it’s just a taste of what’s to come!

Photos of the climate action are available at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceaustraliapacific/sets/72157613246898138/

An Open Letter to Kevin Rudd

Greenhouse Emissions Target Must Uphold Human Rights
12 December 2008
Dear Prime Minister
Upholding fundamental principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples...... Click here to read the Open Letter

Pacific Calling for Climate Justice Conference Resolutions

Forum - Pacific Calling for Climate Justice

To view the resolutions document resulting from the extremely successful forum, please Click Here

Australian CSO Statement on the World Bank

Click here to view the statement we have just signed.  (PDF file size= 62.94KB)

Climate Change and the World Bank - Help or Hindrance?

With the launch of the Climate Investment Funds, the World Bank has positioned itself as a major player in international climate funding and policy. Speakers on this panel will discuss the World Bank’s past, current, and potential future role in climate change, including examinations of the Bank from Southern country perspectives. The implications of the World Bank’s role for both U.S. climate policy and the financing mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will also be discussed.

Tentative Panelists: Elena Gerebizza, Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (Italy); Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator of Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (Philippines) [invited]; Karen Orenstein, International Finance Campaign Coordinator, Friends of the Earth-US; Chima Williams, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth-Nigeria.

Time: 10:00am -- 11:30am

Location: Friends of the Earth, US, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 600

Action Aid USA, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), Oil Change International, Sustainable Energy and Economy Network (SEEN), Campagna per la riforma della Banca Mondiale (CRBM), Jubilee USA

Your action needed on climate change in the Pacific

An Open letter to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and New Zealand-Aotearoa Prime Minister Helen Clark. Click here to read the declaration.

Organisations and individuals who recognise Australia’s ecological debt to our low-lying Pacific Island neighbours.

These comments are on behalf of the Pacific Calling Partnership, a group of organisations and individuals who recognise Australia’s ecological debt to our low-lying Pacific Island neighbours.

Click here to read the document (PDF, 155kb)

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