[Photo: FILE]

Fiji is pushing for Pacific climate priorities to remain at the forefront of global negotiations ahead of COP31, with a strong focus on climate finance, limiting global warming and protecting vulnerable island nations.

Permanent Secretary for Environment Dr Sivendra Michael says the recent Pre-COP31 meeting provided an important platform for Pacific representatives to engage international leaders on unresolved climate issues.

He says discussions focused on keeping global warming within the 1.5-degree Celsius target, improving access to climate finance, addressing loss and damage, and strengthening the recognition of oceans in global climate decisions.

“I believe there are many factors under each of these agenda items, and sometimes we know that the packaging is not working for us as a region but it was very important for Fiji to be in those spaces to make it very clear that the convening of the pre-COP is also to bring to you a realization that some of these decisions need to progress because otherwise domestically we are only relying on our national policy, the aid component, or the interlinkages with the multilateral decisions is still missing or still kind of absent from some of the decisions where we don’t have consensus.”

Dr Michael says access to climate finance remains a major concern, with Pacific nations pushing for funding that is new, additional, predictable and timely to support communities already experiencing the impacts of climate change.

He adds that Fiji will continue advocating for stronger global action to limit temperature increases and ensure the latest scientific evidence guides climate decisions.

“Yeah, that’s it on the pre-COP, and I think for COP 31 we have a couple of priorities that we want to take forward. One is keeping 1.5 degrees within reach; our priority is to make sure that we minimize the magnitude and the duration of the overshoot through deep, rapid, and sustained emissions reduction in this decade and also, like I said, to ensure that the best available science, including the IPCC’s seventh assessment, is at the center of our decision-making, particularly for our second global stocktake.”

The Government maintains that Pacific concerns must remain central to international climate negotiations as vulnerable island nations continue to face the impacts of rising temperatures and changing climate conditions.