What is your biggest flex for 1.5 degrees? Head of SPREP issues challenge

By Kosi Latu*.

I remember my first Climate Change Conference of the Parties very well.

It was COP21 in Paris, France where history was made with the Paris Agreement. There was global triumph as over 190 countries agreed to the legally binding international treaty on climate change that promised to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

I remember the celebration and excitement as the world came together, agreeing on something good for our planet and people. That was in 2015.

It is now in 2021, my final year as director-general of the secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Like all our partners and people, we serve, I remain hopeful to see history reached yet again with the Paris Rulebook being finalised in Glasgow.

We remain hopeful that the world will unite again with an outcome that will guarantee our Pacific survival. We need everyone to commit to actions for a 1.5-degree Celsius world for our survival, for example in the long-run up to 3 meters of sea level rise can be avoided if we limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In the past few years since the Paris Agreement, our visibility has grown stronger with Pacific Pavilions welcoming over 10,000 visitors at each COP, our negotiations capabilities have also grown with continued work over the years to build the capacity of our high-level and our Pacific to negotiate even more effectively.

The road to Glasgow

However, this year COP26 is unlike any other COP. It has been one of the most stressful COPs that we have had to prepare for. Trying to get to Glasgow has been a challenge not just for our Pacific delegations but also for my team at SPREP. Working conditions at COP26 are going to be extremely challenging with many health and safety limitations restricting our ability to gather at the COP26 site.

Outside of the negotiation rooms, one of the biggest challenges for our Pacific Islands at COP26 is the actual attendance, keeping safe and Covid-free while there, and then returning home safely to our families. This in itself is a big deal for us all as many of our Pacific Island Parties are still Covid-free. As such we are still new to so many Covid-processes that are familiar to others - be it the wearing of masks, social distancing, daily testing, even knowing the different types of testing. These are so foreign to many of our Pacific Island delegates.

We're leaving the safety of our Covid-free homes and families to enter climate negotiations in Glasgow, Scotland in the UK, home of a new strain of Covid-19 that is reportedly 10 percent more contagious than the Delta variant. This is a worry for many of us, but desperate times require us to take bold actions.

Understand this, climate change has already wreaked havoc upon our Pacific communities, so much so that our lives may never be the same again. We cannot be passive.

These times are often stressful for us, as we work diligently with partners to amplify our Pacific voice at the COP to levels never reached before.

With the understanding that our Pacific Island survival depends upon this Paris Agreement rulebook achieving a 1.5-world for us all, we have all had to contend with Covid-19 muting our voice on the global stage.

We're already at a huge disadvantage at these climate negotiations, but as members of the Alliance of Small Island States - 39 of over 190 Parties to the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change - we take our role as carrying the voice of our vulnerable, seriously.

We're amongst the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, despite our contribution to the world's total greenhouse gas emissions coming in at less than 0.06%. We are not causing the problem, but we're suffering because of the actions of others - the big emitting countries. They need to change so we don't suffer even further. Easier said than done.

We're not as well-resourced when it comes to the global negotiations that result in the outcomes that affect our lives, but we are strong in heart and passion for the fight for our survival. We've been responsible for some major outcomes on the global climate change stage, and we will continue onwards and upwards.

We know climate change intimately, and it is that which propels so many of our Pacific islands on this journey to COP26.

I won't delve into the nuances of the negotiations in detail, that may come from many of our Pacific Islanders in the Op-Eds to come but I can tell you the climate change negotiations are like a web of interconnectedness. Everything is inter-linked, and while they may move slowly to some, we celebrate even the smallest of achievements as getting over 190 governments to agree on a single thing is no easy feat.

Many have worked hard to ensure the volumes of our Pacific Island voices at COP26 are loud, clear, amplified. The worry that our region will not have the physical attendance like other years to be seen and heard in these negotiations has catalysed our team to do even more.

We have a high-level champion initiative underway, a Flex for 1.5 campaign targeting our social media audience, activities to share our Pacific voice through poetry, Moana Blue Pacific Office space for strategising at the COP, and Moana Blue Pacific shared side event spaces to highlight our Pacific concerns and actions.

Our Pacific negotiators have participated in a range of online sessions to strategise and prepare for what may be ahead - coordination is crucial. We have done all that we can to lay a strong foundation for our Pacific voice to be heard loud and clear.

For this work we have a multitude of partners to thank for helping this come about; the Governments of New Zealand, and Ireland as well as the IMPACT Project coordinated by Climate Analytics. We thank you all for your support.

We're all behind our Pacific Island Parties as they amplify our voice at COP26.

I end this Op-Ed by asking everyone - "What is your biggest flex for 1.5?" tell us what you are doing to bring about a 1.5-degree World for our survival, I know that's what we want to hear at COP26.

Our Pacific islands have shown time and time again our actions to lower our greenhouse gas emissions despite our very minimal contribution to this problem.

We all need to be held accountable for the future we are creating, so show us your biggest, boldest flex for 1.5."

*Kosi Latu is the Director-General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the premier intergovernmental regional environment organisation for the Pacific. SPREP is the lead coordinating agency of the One CROP-Plus, a group of Pacific regional bodies working together to provide support for the Pacific Islands at COP26. Led by SPREP, the One CROP-Plus members include the Pacific Community, Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, University of the South Pacific, UN Environment Programme, UN Development Programme and the Pacific Islands Development Forum.