Programmes Officer SIDS (Lead) for the International Renewable Energy Agency Arieta Rakai.

The Small Islands Developing States are leaving no stones unturned as they work on compiling their reports ahead of the COP28 later this year.

Programmes Officer SIDS (Lead) for the International Renewable Energy Agency Arieta Rakai says they continue to work in collaboration to highlight the needs they have for major countries that contribute hugely to carbon emissions.

Fiji is a SIDS member country and Rakai says SIDS will do whatever it takes to save their homes, their communities and other loved ones from the impacts of the climate crisis.

Climate Change is in fact the cornerstone of the renewables deployments, lives have been destroyed, and livelihoods have been compromised but we are looking to increase security. Increasing energy security means access and also leads to socio-economic development, well-being health, and education in that sense. It’s not only about climate change, but it’s also about sustainable development, and it’s a holistic thing.

Rakai says they will demand huge carbon emitters to outline their energy transition strategy to be in line with the 1.5 degrees carbon emission reduction by 2030.

“We have this platform and we can use this platform for SIDS to tell the world, we need this, we want now, you must give us now, money capacity, technology and unfortunately I mean we are still talking, we are shouting at the top of their voices but the responses has been very slow. I am not disheartened and we must continue to make our voices stronger. ”

The Small Islands Developing States contribute less than one percent of global carbon emissions however their geographical locations make them highly vulnerable to natural disasters caused by climate change.

Fiji is one of the nine Small Island Developing States in the Pacific that are SIDS member states.