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Climate change should be recognised as the Pacific region’s primary security threat as low-lying islands face the prospect of annihilation from rising sea levels, says a coalition of former Pacific heads of state ahead of a key regional forum next week.
Australia and New Zealand will join Pacific nations in Fiji next week for the Pacific Island Forum, which is likely to be dominated by discussions of security because of the recent deal signed between China and the Solomon Islands, and heightened strategic concerns from the US.
A woman on the Iisland of Abaiang, in Kiribati. This village is regularly inundated by sea water. Credit:Justin McManus
Despite this focus on geopolitical tensions, the Pacific Elders Voice group – a coalition of former Pacific heads of state and ministers – are adamant the climate crisis remains the region’s greatest security threat. They have urged major emitters such as China and the US to set stronger emission reduction targets.
“We emphasise that working together in driving global climate action is key to Pacific security,” the group said in a statement. The coalition includes former Pacific heads of state or ministers such as Enele Sopoaga, the former prime minister of Tuvalu, Anote Tong, the former president of the Kiribati, and Hilda Heine, the former president of the Marshall Islands.
“We must also press the world’s largest polluters – including China and the US – to make deeper and more consequent cuts to emissions this decade,” their statement says. “We are in a fight for survival. Our security and our future are at stake.”
The group’s statement is included in a new report from the Climate Council, A Fight for Survival, which underlines the ways that climate change is affecting the Pacific region.
The former leaders have welcomed more ambitious climate policy from the newly elected Australian government, including a strengthened pledge to cut emissions by 43 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 and a review of Australia’s troubled carbon offset scheme.
And they say the most meaningful collaboration between Australia and the Pacific would be Australian support for Pacific priorities at the forthcoming COP27 climate summit in Egypt in November.