Climate Change

She has been attending the Pacific Islands Development Forum in Fiji where Pacific island countries have been coming up with a position to take to crucial UN climate change talks in Paris in November.

The statement includes a demand on limiting global temperature to 1 point 5 degrees over pre-industrial levels.

Mrs Robinson says the statement will have an impact on industrialised nations.

Meeting in Fiji at the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) in early September, heads of government were militant in their readiness to confront the world’s polluting nations in Paris in December at the UN Climate Change conference.

A panel of Pacific Island leaders stressed this during a talanoa session on Climate Change and Migration Thursday.

“The question is, it’s not always about what we take to Paris as important, what is possibly more important what we will come away from Paris with. We really want to come away from Paris with some clear guarantees that something is going to be done that will ensure our future generations will have a chance of survival,” said  Kiribati President Anote Tong. 

The Commonwealth Secretary General Kamlesh Sharma made the comments while delivering his keynote address at the Pacific Islands Development Forum in Suva.

“Initiatives such as the Commonwealth Climate Finance to be launched by the Malta Commonwealth heads of Government meeting this November ,will allow Countries and regions to bolster their practical ability to access funds for adaptation and mitigation needs,” said Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamlesh Sharma.

He says he had hoped Australia would have done better in its target of reducing emissions by between 26 and 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

"I have a simple message today for the Australian Prime Minister: Mr Abbott, it is time to put the welfare and survival of your Pacific Island neighbours before the expansion of your existing coal industry and your continuing reliance on this dirtiest of energy sources. The other day, the President of Kiribati, His Excellency Anote Tong, described Australia's loyalty to coalmines as selfish and I couldn't agree more."

The bombardment takes the form of globs of sargassum seaweed which have landed on Caribbean beaches this year, forming piles that are sometimes metres deep. They emit a rotten-egg stench when they decompose, ruining holidays for anyone with a sense of smell. Hilary Beckles, the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, calls it “the greatest single threat to the Caribbean economy I can imagine.”

Speaking at a public lecture in Fiji, ADB President Takehiko Nakao says the Pacific Islands are already among the most vulnerable in the world to disasters - as cyclone Pam in Vanuatu earlier this year reminded us.

He said natural disaster cost most Pacific island countries over 2% of Gross Domestic Product each year.  

Nakao said expert on International Panel on Climate Change has reported without policy chnage, we can expect a world that is  4 degrees warmer by the end of the century.

The small island nations are seeking a legally binding climate agreement from world leaders at the Paris COP 21 summit in December.

But Greenpeace's executive director, Kumi Naidoo, says the position taken by the Pacific countries is weakened without their most powerful neighbours on board.

The New Zealand government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 30 percent below the level of 2005 by 2030.

The Australian government has a similar target, with plans to cut carbon emissions by at least 26 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.

When asked about New Zealand and Australia's emissions targets, Henry Puna said it's up to New Zealand and Australia to decide what is good for them.

He says the important thing is that they come together regularly to talk about those difficult issues.

Leaders and delegates from 14 island nations are in Jaipur for the second Summit of the Forum for India- Pacific Islands Cooperation.

India's Economic Times quotes the country's External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, saying India stands ready to share its expertise and technology with the island nations to help them adapt to and to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The paper says India will push for greater cooperation with the island countries in sectors like oil and natural gas, mining, IT, healthcare, fishing and marine research.