Larger economies must increase climate finance for small developing countries in the fight against climate change, Fiji's prime minister says.
Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji during the opening ceremony of COP 24, the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Photo: AFP/Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto
Frank Bainimarama, who was addressing the third Climate Action Pacific Partnership Conference in Suva, said Pacific island countries and many other vulnerable and developing countries would need creative, blended financing to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Pacific island countries had to lead by example in changing their economies to suit a changing climate even though their contribution to global greenhouse gases is relatively small, he said.
"While we are a vulnerable people, we will continue to show that, when armed with the proper resources, we are adaptable, inventive, and determined. We will show that we have made the hard choices and begun the hard work changing our economies to suit a changing climate."
Lenders needed to be more willing to take risk, he added.
"To win this fight, larger economies must increase the amount of climate finance for mitigation, resilience and adaptation efforts in small, developing countries, and -- equally as important -- devise ways to deliver that financing quickly, before more lives are needlessly lost."
One hundred billion US dollars a year would be needed worldwide by 2020 to tackle global warming, and affordable insurance products would need to be made available, he said.
Mr Bainimarama said while there had been greater global recognition of the climate crisis, appropriate action was yet to follow.
"The response so far has been limited to mainly speeches, rhetoric and pleasantries - and in some cases, outrageously out-of-touch statements from public officials," he said, although he praised individual action by US states and cities in the "total absence of national leadership", Britain's recent coal-free week and New Zealand's Zero Carbon Bill.
Mr Bainimarama said all countries including Pacific nations represented at the Suva conference needed to go to the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September with clear commitments to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030, and to become carbon neutral.
It is the only way to "prevent the current crisis from escalating into total chaos," he said.
Meanwhile, the Cook Islands and Samoa have called for a more integrated approach to tackle climate change at the conference.
FBC News reports Cooks Islands deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown saying Pacific island countries should work together to mitigate climate change.
Samoan Finance Minister Sili Epa Tui-oti also said Pacific nations must allow more flexibility in their policies.