The leaders of at the Pacific Islands Forum have a picture taken on Vava'u Island before heading into the leaders' retreat talks. Photo: RNZ / Lydia Lewis
The Pacific Islands Forum has emphasised solidarity in the face of the many challenges confronting the region, with climate change affecting nearly every area of discussion.
Pacific policing, regional security climate change and the New Caledonia crisis were the main talking points for regional leaders heading into their retreat on Vava'u Island this week.
The regional group has since agreed to deploy a Pacific-led mission to New Caledonia, in line with the request of its government, and noted the terms of reference for the Forum Troika Mission have been agreed to by both New Caledonia and France.
They have also welcomed Australia's support for a Pacific policing initiative that will set up a police training facility in Brisbane and establish a "Pacific Police Support Group" that can be deployed to Pacific nations.
This is all wrapped up in the final communique, a critical document released at the end of the Pacific region's annual flagship event, that has now been published as the 53rd forum wraps up in Tonga.
Communique
Leaders congratulated the kingdom for this year's 'Transformative and Resilient Pasifika: Build Better Now' theme, saying it reaffirmed the importance of integrated resilience across Pacific communities in the areas of climate change, environmental degradation, building economies and health and education challenges.
The group also recognised the centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum and its "critical role to bolster regional development and regional cooperation."
"Leaders reaffirmed the strength of collective efforts, despite the varying perspectives and further emphasised the need to be flexible in adapting with the evolving strategic environments.
"Leaders further emphasised the importance of solidarity in the face of the many challenges and opportunities before the region, including economic growth, sustainable development, resource management and partnerships."
The leaders noted the Secretary General's overview, the report on the Rarotonga Treaty, and reaffirmed the 2050 strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent - the 'roadmap' to how the Pacific region can best approach the impacts of global warming.
The group also discussed progress of the Review of the Regional Architecture (RRA), emphasised the importance of the RRA work to the implementation of the 2050 Strategy and reiterated the need for the RRA to take into account the decisions outlined in the Suva Agreement.
On health, leaders discussed the vulnerability of the Pacific's health system to climate change effects such as sea level rise and extreme weather, recognising that 62 percent of the critical health facilities are situated within 500m of coastlines.
Leaders acknowledged that improving the climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure was essential to mitigate risks and manage climate-sensitive diseases effectively, as well as discussing the ongoing health workforce crisis and uneven distribution and outmigration of skilled professionals.
On education, leaders considered key areas of focus including investment in climate-resilient and digital education infrastructure and developing a localised and culturally relevant curriculum, incorporating disaster preparedness.
Climate change 'a matter of priority'
The communique stated climate change "continues to be a matter of priority to the Pacific region and relatedly, the issue of resilient development."
Leaders reaffirmed the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP) as their commitment to inclusive and innovative approaches and solutions to the enhancement of resilience in wellbeing.
They welcomed the Australian Government's update on its bid to host the 31st United Nations Climate Change Convention Conference of the Parties (COP 31) in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific region.
The leaders recognised the need to coordinate regional efforts to effectively address disaster risks, manage humanitarian action and response, advocate for timely access to disaster risk finance, and meaningfully engage in international meetings.
On sea level rise, they discussed the broad-ranging nature of climate change and recognised that sea level rise is a severe manifestation of climate change that threatens Pacific communities, especially in low-lying nations.
"Accordingly, Leaders agreed to elevate the issue of sea level rise politically, including at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
"Leaders welcomed the dedicated High-Level Plenary Meeting on the theme Addressing the Existential Threats posed by Seal-level Rise, to take place on 25 September 2024 in New York," the communique states.
Leaders strongly called for the inclusion of sea-level rise as a standalone agenda item in the UNGA and other relevant UN processes.
They also reaffirmed their support and commitment for the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), recognising it as the first Pacific-led, member-owned and managed and people-centred climate and disaster resilience financing facility.
They warmly welcomed the commitment by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Forum Leaders to support the capitalisation of the Pacific Resilience Facility, which has an initial financing target of $US500 million by 1 January 2026, and a longer term goal of $US1.5b.
Australia, Saudi Arabia, the People's Republic of China and the United States have contributed to this fund, and the communique states Pacific leaders are urging other dialogue partners to pledge their contributions so the fund can meet its targets.
Luxon's take on PIF
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Leaders' retreat in Tonga had been a "really successful meeting", much of it focused on growing the power of the forum on the global stage.
"We talked a lot about the work that's been going on around regional architecture and infrastructure to support the mechanisms and the different agencies and subcommittees that work within PIF, to make sure that's even stronger so it has even more influence going froward from here."
He said there was also discussion of the situation in New Caledonia, and the Troika - the leaders from Fiji, Cook Islands and Tonga - would visit, but the constitutional arrangements would ultimately be up to the people as well.
Questioned about the Pacific Resilience Facility being set up in Tonga - with support from other partners like the US and Australia - he said people should not read into New Zealand's name being left off the list of supporters.
"We're really supportive of it, what we discussed is we also want to see just some clarity about legal obligations, governance of that fund, how it will work in practice," he said.
"They've made pledges contingent on making sure that we have the actual management of the fund is actually in place, and that's something that we're going to make sure happens."
He pushed back when reporters challenged him on whether the forum's focus on climate had given him any pause for thought on lifting the oil and gas exploration ban.
"Absolutely not," he said.
"And as I've said to you - I've tried to explain this really clearly ... it hasn't been an issue in conversation. I know you want to talk about it in a media sense but it hasn't been a conversation that has been raised with me by any of the leaders over the last few days.
"You've got to remember New Zealand starts in the position of a) committed to 2050 carbon zero, b) we're one of the top five countries with 87 percent renewables.
"It's a lovely bumper sticker, we all want to end fossil fuels, but ... you've got to have a plan and you've got to have some second and third order consequences to just the bumper sticker and have thought that through."
He was asked if he came across anything new from the meeting, and responded: "It's well acknowledged that New Zealand's doing an incredibly good job, that we're punching above our weight investing strongly in a range of intiaitives across the Pacific and it's greatly appreciated by my colleagues and partners in the Pacific, and I had that played back to me a lot.
"We've got a range of programmes happening across the Pacific and I think people understand that we're a good trusted partner and we're committed to the region, and we want to ... have even deeper relationships, deeper commitment.
"We actually want to reinforce the centrality of PIF ... so the maturing, the evolution of PIF as you're seeing it with more capability being built, the policing intiative, education infrastructure, the drive into renewable energy, the execution of the 2050 strategy is actually really important. So I think it's going from strength to strength."