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My experience of being a young Pacific Islander at COP25
Today the voices of youth activists from around the world are among the strongest forces calling for urgent climate action and climate justice in the Pacific. Maryann Puia, a youth climate activist from the Solomon Islands, shares her experiences and learnings from COP25. The author (front right) at a Pacific youth forum at the COP25…
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Taylor calls on other countries to reduce emissions with no plan of his own at COP25
MADRID, Dec 10, 2019 – Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor has ignored Australians suffering from bushfires and Pacific Islanders facing the obliteration of their homelands by refusing to outline a plan for Australia to honour the Paris Agreement.Overnight Taylor delivered his keynote speech at the UN climate conference COP25 in Madrid, where…
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Pacific church leader tells Scott Morrison ‘each lump of coal is a nail in our coffins’
MADRID, Dec 9, 2019 – The General Secretary for the Pacific Conference of Churches has told Scott Morrison that the coal industry is killing the Pacific region. The General Secretary of the Pacific Council of Churches, Fijian clergyman and climate advocate Reverend James Bhagwan made the incendiary remarks on Day 8 of the COP25 climate conference…
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‘If you don’t transition from coal, are you really part of the Pacific?’ Ex-Tuvalu PM Sopoaga asks at COP25
MADRID, Dec 7, 2019 – Former Tuvalu Prime Minister and climate champion Enele Sopoaga questioned whether countries that accept the reality of climate change but refuse to transition away from fossil fuels are really part of the Pacific.Mr Sopoaga made the remarks at an intergenerational dialogue event at the UN’s annual climate change conference, COP25…
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Fiji among 10 nations most impacted by climate crisis in 2018 but all of Pacific faces devastation unless the world acts now
MADRID, Dec 5, 2019 – Climate change caused eight deaths and wiped $172 million from Fiji’s economy in 2018, according to a report by climate advocacy group Germanwatch.“It’s beyond doubt that climate change is exacerbating extreme weather events around the world but the impacts are particularly acute in the Pacific,” Nilesh Prakash, Head of Climate…
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Pacific region can’t afford another climate groundhog day
As world leaders gather in Madrid this week for the COP25 UN Climate Change conference, we find ourselves at a critical moment in the climate emergency, writes Joseph Moeono-Kolio, Head of Greenpeace Pacific. Pacific Island Represent! activists joined community members in Navutulevu Village on the Coral Coast to raise awareness about climate change, and plant…
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The Pacific can’t afford another climate groundhog day
MADRID, Dec 2 2019 – As heads of state gather in Madrid for the 25th Conference of Parties (COP25) meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Pacific leaders are calling for a rapid reduction in coal use to be central to any plan addressing the climate crisis.Any credible plan to confront…
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Fijian PM hits back at Morrison’s UN speech, saying there is ‘no alternative’ to a coal phaseout
NEW YORK, Sept 26, 2019 – The only credible way to address the climate crisis is to end the use of coal, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama tweeted moments after Scott Morrison defended Australia’s climate inaction at the UN General Assembly. “Unless we stop burning coal, we have no hope of achieving net-zero emissions in 31…
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New UN report confirms the climate crisis is a cultural crisis for the Pacific
SYDNEY, September 25 2019 – Climate change is driving potentially rapid and irreversible loss of culture for climate-vulnerable communities such as those in the Pacific, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today.The report finds that the impacts of climate change are already affecting low-lying islands and coasts, with disproportionately…
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Pacific rebukes Australian obstruction at regional meeting, warns ‘watered-down climate language has real consequences’
SYDNEY, Aug 16, 2019 – The Morrison Government has single-handedly bullied regional leaders into accepting a weakened Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) communique that removes all mentions of coal, and reportedly removes calls for urgent climate action, after 12 hours of debate that finished last night.Tuvalu prime minister and forum chair Enele Sopoaga described the marathon…