- Your Excellency Fei Mingxing, Ambassador to Samoa
- Our SPREP Members
- Colleagues
- Ladies and Gentlemen
It is a privilege to acknowledge the generous assistance and contribution of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to SPREP. It is even more fitting in the presence of our SPREP Members, here at the Secretariat for the preparatory workshop in the lead up to the 16th Meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which shall be held in Columbia later this year. Our SPREP Members here today, through their respective governments oversaw the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022, which aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
This donation ensures SPREP is able to help our Members address the triple planetary crisis not only of climate change, but also biodiversity loss, waste and pollution. Up until 2017, the donation was an annual contribution of USD 150,000 which was increased to USD 200,000 in 2018 as the result of the commitment of President Xi Jinping to address climate change, and to help support Pacific capability to address the challenges of climate change.
The generous contribution of the People’s Republic of China to SPREP has made a positive impact on the work of SPREP in climate change as well as all of our strategic priorities through the strengthening of our core, which enables SPREP to be more responsive and adaptive to the needs of our Pacific island countries and territories.
The funding to SPREP in 2023 of USD 200,000 provided critical support across the organisation in strengthening the capacity of SPREP to assist Pacific island Members in addressing their key priorities of climate change resilience and the close linkages to oceans and associated capacity building activities.
The support to SPREP from China enabled the following:
- Enhanced core support to programmes for climate change initiatives.
- Enhanced the communications capacity and outreach support of SPREP particularly in supporting climate change reporting.
- Strengthened SPREP’s governance systems and processes through its Remuneration review.
- Supported SPREP staff capacity building and performance development programmes including the overall people strategy initiatives and activities.
- Supported occupational health and safety building initiatives for a more inclusive campus enabling easier access for staff and visitors.
- Enhanced core support for the SPREP governing council meeting through its Executive Board meeting held just last week.
We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Government of the People’s Republic of China for this generous donation to SPREP which is very much appreciated. SPREP will continue to prioritise this assistance to strengthen its core operations and thus better implement climate change related activities to assist implementation of the Paris Agreement.
On behalf of SPREP I wish to convey my sincere appreciation to the Government of the People’s Republic of China for your continued generosity. The impact your Government’s contribution has made and will continue to make, ensures the Pacific is able to address the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution, and sustainable development through the work of SPREP and a strengthened Secretariat.