The Pacific Climate Action Network, or PICAN, says it wants next month's global conference on climate change in Bonn to reach commitments for those on the frontline of climate change.
The COP 23 conference in Germany is being co-hosted by Fiji which this week is holding a preliminary meeting in Nadi.
NGOs are there with Pacific political leaders and PICAN's Genevieve Jiva says there is a desire for progress on compensation and to forge a common position on climate change at the Bonn meeting.
She says there is growing support to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees celsius above pre-industrial levels, and she told Don Wiseman the Pacific will be pushing this message hard.
Sogi village in Samoa being relocated due to climate change
Photo: RNZI/Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia
Transcript
GENEVIEVE JIVA: 1.5 is critical for our survival and we need to increase ambition all over the world and we need to be able to show them that we are fighting for our survival and that there is really no future in fossil fuels. We need to move towards renewables as soon as possible.
DON WISEMAN: But do you think though that you will get Australia and New Zealand, particularly Australia I guess, given that they have got this huge new coal mine on the way. Do you think that they are going to agree to that lower level?
GJ: I believe there is increasing opposition to Australia's Adani coal mine. At PICAN's press conference we had the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, who said this was simply not sustainable. We cannot continue to promote coal and continue to open new fossil fuel mines and resources when our islands are sinking. So Australia and New Zealand may not agree but there is increasing opposition and there is increasing recognition of the fact that we do need to move towards renewables away from fossil fuels.
DW: One of the key concerns for PICAN is you want to see some sort of focus at the COP23 meeting on the need, effectively, for victims of climate change to be given compensation.
GJ: Yes we feel that loss and damage is a very important area and we feel that there needs to be an increasing focus on finance for climate damage because the Pacific Island countries and the other vulnerable nations are already feeling the effects of climate change and are already experiencing loss and damage. So there needs to be a recognition of this fact and of [the need for] increasing finance.
DW: In terms of compensation - it is going to be a very difficult road to get compensation. I presume you mean compensation from the polluters - it is almost an impossible thing to do, isn't it?
GJ: Certainly it is very hard to source that compensation from developed countries and with the major polluters. The government of Tuvalu is putting forward a proposal for a Pacific Climate Change Insurance Facility and one of the ways to pay for those premiums is to have the polluters pay. So we are hoping that that might be an avenue where we can get finance for loss and damage.
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