Transcript
SU'A WILLIAM SIO: It just seems ludicrous in many ways, where you have this funding available called the Green Climate Fund or any of the international climate change funding, but there are so many barriers and the process is so complex that for small island countries it is just so difficult to access it. And the proof of that is that so far, I believe it has only been Cook Islands and Vanuatu that have been approved for Readiness Support Funding [part of GCF] and it is only Fiji and Tuvalu that have been able to access any funding for adaptation purposes, or maybe mitigation purposes. And I think it is not just good enough, given that these are the most vulnerable islands in this part of the region, and they are front line climate change. They are, as their Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga has said they are fighting for their very survival.
DON WISEMAN: Do you think that instead of saying to these countries that you need to access this money through the Green Fund, countries like Australia and New Zealand have got to front and directly provide the funding.
SWS: I think that is a strong possibility but I think New Zealand has got to be a lot more transparent about it, I mean the Minister of Climate Change has said that $NZ200 million is allocated to help the Pacific with climate change projects in the next four years, but we suspect that may not necessarily be all new money. And it is not necessarily going to adaptation projects, which I believe is the key for the Pacific.
DW: In the OXFAM report they have lauded to an extent the mitigation projects launched by New Zealand's aid programme, but they are talking for a need for a lot more money for climate change purposes.
SWS; Yes that's right. We have a moral responsibility as a Pacific nation, with high Pacific populations here, but the question also has to be asked 'What would we do if Cyclone Winston didn't hit Fiji, which has been a big landmass, but instead hit one of the vulnerable islands, like Tokelau, like Tuvalu, like Kiribati, what would we do.' And I am saying that we need to have a greater commitment and increase our commitment to the Pacific because the Pacific is sort of the canary in the coalmine. They are in danger and that danger in the Pacific will also impact on us. But the mitigation projects that are happening, all fine, the Pacific require fuel and electricity for their ongoing day to day needs. But it is really countries like Australia and New Zealand that have got to reduce their carbon emissions. The Pacific's contribution is only 0.3 percent of carbon emissions on the world scale. So we say we are part of the region, we say we have this close relationship with the Pacific, but our actions don't align with that, and climate change is the most critical and most defining issue at the moment.
