Pacific voices will be amplified during a webinar that focusses its lens on what global climate targets mean for the Pacific islands and explore the direction the Pacific must travel to adapt and mitigate against the drastic impacts of climate change.
Scheduled to be held this week, the Move from Promise to Action webinar is organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. It will be held on Thursday 27 May 2021 at 2pm Samoa time.
Led by His Excellency David Kabua, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the panellists aim to empower movement from “Promise to Action” from over 195 parties to meet the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
It will also talk to the decarbonisation efforts underway across the Pacific islands to meet the 1.5°Celsius global warming goal.
“We’re on the cusp of the intersessional gatherings of the UN Famework Convention on Climate Change which start at the end of May. Our Pacific islands are working together with the Alliance of Small Islands States, to amplify our Pacific voices so we are heard,” said Ms Tagaloa Cooper Halo, Director of Climate Change Resilience of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
“We’re calling on the world to flex for 1.5, and it’s at our webinar that we’ll showcase to the world just how we are moving from promise to action. We want to see some strong flexes from others.”
Following the keynote address from President Kabua, presentations will be made from Dr Bill Hare, Chief Executive Officer of Climate Analytics, Mr Tutii Chilton, Chair of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Hub, and Ms Leala’isalanoa France Brown-Reupena, Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa. The session will be moderated by SPREP Director General, Mr Kosi Latu.
The majority of our Pacific islands have pledged to decarbonise their power sector through their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commitments under the Paris Agreement. In doing so, true leadership is being showcased for Pacific island survival. Presentations made during the webinar will outline what is needed, when and what is being done in our corner of the world.
“The webinar is open to all, and we invite everyone from the Pacific and afar to join us as we believe there are important conversations to be had regarding climate change, which has been identified as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods and security of Pacific people,” Ms Cooper said.
The “Move from Promise to Action” webinar will be the first of a series of four webinars hosted by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) across 2021. Each of the four programmes of SPREP – Climate Change Resilience, Environmental Monitoring and Governance, Island and Ocean Ecosystems and Waste Management and Pollution Control – will be leading a webinar to help drive Pacific conversations about environmental issues during the time of COVID-19.
SPREP Director General, Mr Kosi Latu, said, “The goal of these webinars is to empower our Pacific islands to build back from the impacts of COVID-19 while complementing a sustainable Pacific environment, and to help bring our environmental concerns to the fore.”
Registrations for the "Move from Promise to Action" webinar are now open. To register, please click on this link: https://bit.ly/3whDrdL.
For more information, please contact Ms Nanette Woonton at [email protected], or Ms Azarel Maiai at [email protected].