Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea, New Caledonia, Wednesday, 20 May 2009

The Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Dr Jimmie Rodgers, has written to Pacific Island leaders strongly encouraging inclusion of technical assistance for adaptation in national statements at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks in Bonn from 1–12 June.

The 30th session of UNFCCC’s ‘Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice’ (SBSTA) to be held during the talks provides an important opportunity for Pacific Island countries to negotiate for assistance to adapt to climate change.
“SBSTA is a channel for transferring technical advice to the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC (COP 15), to be held in Copenhagen from 7 to 18 December 2009. One of the main aims of COP 15 is to determine how to finance efforts by developing countries to engage in reducing emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change,” said Dr Rodgers.

“Pacific nations have an undisputed moral position at UNFCCC. But we can’t limit our statements to the urgent need for larger nations to mitigate emissions to levels that will prevent the tragic inundation of our low-lying nations and islands. We must negotiate for a much broader range of technical assistance to help us adapt to the inevitable environmental changes we will now face,” he said.

Dr Rodgers points out that even under best-case emissions scenarios, the Pacific is projected to experience major changes to the ecosystems that people depend on for food and livelihoods. Projected higher air and sea temperatures, more intense rainfall in tropical areas, rising sea levels, acidification of the ocean and cyclones of greater intensity threaten the productivity of fisheries and agriculture and jobs associated with coastal infrastructure including resort areas. Changing environmental conditions are also expected to increase the risk of water-borne and mosquito-borne diseases, especially in rapidly growing urban areas.

“Across all sectors, there is an urgent need to assess the vulnerability of food production systems, livelihoods and the health of our populations. The resources needed to design and implement effective adaptations vital to people’s well-being must be channeled into the region,” said Dr Rodgers. He praised the leadership of SPREP (Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme) in raising international awareness of the dangers of climate change for Pacific Island countries and territories, and in preparing negotiators from the region attending the UNFCCC talks in Bonn.

Dr Rodgers also thanked Australia and Germany for being quick to act. Australia is providing the Pacific region with more than AUD 100 million for technical assistance, vulnerability assessments and adaptation projects through its ‘International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative’ until 2011. Germany has allocated more than Euro 4 million to guide adaptation in the agriculture sector in three countries alone. Dr Rodgers stresses that the dimensions of the problem are so large, however, that Pacific leaders need to be explicit about the need for much broader assistance at SBSTA and COP 15.

For more information, contact Johann Bell ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Mary Taylor ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).