Climate Change to become Worse, says Scientific Report
by Ashvini Fernando, Climate Change Programme Coordinator, WWF SPP
The Intergovernmental Panel’s Fourth Assessment Report has confirmed what we in the Pacific have known for quite sometime, that climate change is real and happening NOW.
This panel of scientists from around the world has said that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal,” and that there is very high confidence that man made activities such as burning fossil fuels and landuse changes have caused this warming. This report can be viewed here.
The report comes in the midst of Pacific-wide weather catastrophes, including late-season cyclones in Fiji, king-tides in Tuvalu, and drought in the Marshall Islands. According to scientists, the climate-impacted future will only see an increase in such catastrophes. Sea-level rise, changes in temperature and rainfall patterns, and increased extreme weather are expected to impact key socioeconomic sectors in the Pacific.
» Read more on what events worsening climate change will bring about
Time for Debate - OVER!!!
by Jyotishma Rajan Naicker, Climate Change Campaigner, WWF SPP
Quite often, Pacific government delegations to the UN Climate Change Conferences are very small, which limits their participation in many ways.
Through an EU-funded climate policy project, WWF was able to sponsor the participation three civil society and government delegates to the 12th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Kenya, in 2006 (COP12). This was the first such conference for one member.
In addition to their participation being a capacity building exercise, the presence of additional delegates meant that national government delegates who attended the conference could divide themselves over a greater number of issues being discussed. As Mr. Silu stated,
What this means is that governments need to have several representatives present, a luxury that few Pacific Islands can afford.
Conference creates stronger advocates for climate change
by Diane McFadzien, International Policy Coordinator (Asia Pacific), WWF International
A recent conference organised by the University of Peace in February offered a unique experience for invited delegates from the Pacific to learn from adaptation experiences in the Netherlands.
The above conference provided the opportunity for delegates from Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati and Tuvalu to experience first hand some of the innovate solutions that the Netherlands has employed to protect their low lying coastlines from the threat of sea level rise. Delegates from the Pacific and other developing countries participated in a full day field trip around many of the lower lying areas of the Netherlands visiting a number of sea walls and dykes. Later, many of the delegates from the Pacific, including WWF then shared their own experiences on adaptation to climate change in the Pacific – helping facilitate a true exchange of ideas and experiences between north and south.
As a result of this conference, one of the delegates from Fiji has made a strong commitment to become an active advocate for climate change. Ms. Tupou Rataraga reported that
Ms. Raturaga, Counsellor to the Fiji Mission to the European Union stated,
According to Ms. Raturaga,
Incorporating Disaster Risk Reduction into Adaptation to Climate Change
by Rebecca McNaught, International Federation of the Red Cross, Pacific Regional Delegation, Suva
Climate change is a humanitarian issue as much as it is an environmental one. Climate Change is already here and will continue to get worse – especially if carbon emissions are not reigned in. It doesn’t take a climate scientist to work out that this means more disasters for the Red Cross/Red Crescent to respond to. It has implications for people’s health, will hinder economic development and will emerge as a contributing factor to migration and conflict.
The effects of climate change won’t be felt uniformly. To quote Mr. Ibrahim Osman, Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies,
The scaling up of disasters needs to be met head on with scaling up of disaster risk reduction activities.
Disaster Risk Reduction is an essential element that needs to be considered when adapting to climate change. In addition to being ready to respond to disasters, we also need to look at how to stop disasters affecting people so badly. Often it is not the weather itself but social and economic factors that dictate the disasters’ impacts. Practices such as clearing steep slopes, mangrove depletion, and reef degradation can all intensify the impacts of climate change.
