High Commissioner’s Speech at the 2018 Fiji National Climate Day
HMA Melanie Hopkins speech on how the UK is helping Fiji tackle climate change through its funding and various projects such as the Talanoa Dialogue and COP 23.
Good morning, and thank you John for the warm introduction.
The UK is so proud to have provided £1.7m of support to Fiji’s COP23 Presidency, and is pleased to have seen such strong leadership from Fiji in the call for increased ambition, particularly its role in the Talanoa Dialogue, and hopes to see it play a prominent role in COP24 in Katowice this December. The UK recognises how important and successful the Talanoa Dialogue concept has been in fostering a constructive discussion on raising ambition.
You can see some of the UK support in action at today’s event, as we are pleased to have partnered with the COP23 Secretariat on Fiji’s National Climate Change Day, including the ‘divisional’ Talanoa Dialogues that took place across Fiji recently, which will provide an input to the UNFCCC as part of the formal Talanoa Dialogue process, allowing villages, local government, women and community groups, and the private sector to have their voice heard at the international level.
In fact, the UK hosted its own ‘talanoa’ through hosting the first ever Green Great Britain Week over 15-19 October, to showcase the opportunities and benefits of taking bold action to tackle climate change. Up and down the country businesses, academics, civil society groups and the Government joined forces to tell the story of clean growth and how acting to tackle climate change is a shared opportunity, as well as a responsibility.
The week took place ten years after Parliament passed the 2008 Climate Change Act and comes shortly after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees. The week built on the UK’s strong leadership in clean growth: since 1990 we have reduced our emissions by over 40% while growing our economy by over two thirds and halving emissions per capita.
The UK has a strong track record in working with vulnerable countries to build resilience against the impacts of climate change. We have committed at least £5.8 billion in international climate finance between 2016 and 2020, half of which was spent on adaptation in 2016.
The UK is the world’s largest funder of the World Bank IDA18, and the 3rd largest contributor to the Green Climate Fund. We have also committed a total of £1.3m towards the Regional Pacific NDC Hub in collaboration with GIZ, launched at COP23. The Hub is a direct response to a request from Pacific island leaders for assistance in enhancing and implementing their national strategies in order to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
As His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex rightly remarked during his visit to Fiji, we look to Fiji to provide leadership on environmental issues which affect all of us, and we can all learn from the fortitude and resilience of Fijians. We hope to continue our already strong collaboration with Fiji and other Pacific islands to continue to encourage others to do more to prioritise the issue of climate change, particularly as we quickly approach the critical negotiations taking place at COP24 in Katowice this December.
Vinaka.