Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama [Source: Fijian Government]

The Commonwealth can play a vital role as a staging ground for the global coalition that is needed to save our seas from further devastation says, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

He made the statement while speaking at the Commonwealth Secretariat Climate Change and Ocean Action reception in Madrid, Spain

Bainimarama says the 53 nations that compose of the Organisation come in all sizes.

He says by coming together and forging oceans cooperation, the members can show it is possible for the entire community of nations to do the same.

“The generational abuse of our oceans and the life they sustain has come directly at the expense of the wellbeing of all oceanic people. Our fishers are pulling up empty lines in seas once teeming with fish, families are struggling to pay the rising prices of kai (clams), kawakawa (grouper), nama (sea grapes) and other dietary staples, and our oceanic ecosystems are succumbing to the deadly acidification of our seas.”

Bainimarama says for small nations, the climate emergency is an oceans emergency.

“If reckless levels of global emissions continue, our oceans will more closely resemble lifeless wastelands than the bustling, beautiful ecosystems my generation has sadly taken for granted. When I hear and see of the suffering of my own people, I have to tell them: Yes, we must act in the face of this crisis, but Fiji cannot act alone.”

The Prime Minister also stressed that Fiji isn’t going to the world wagging its fingers and demanding to be saved, but is acting to save ourselves.

From January, single-use plastics will be banned in Fiji, with a ban on Styrofoam following a year later.