3 October 2024, Nadi Fiji - Pacific Climate Change negotiators and officials are returning home re-energised to continue to fight for the survival of their communities who are at the forefront of climate change impacts, following an intense week of Pacific pre-COP29 preparation meetings, in Nadi Fiji.
The two-day pre-COP29 meeting of officials ended today. It was preceded by the Pacific Climate Change Ministers pre-COP29 briefing, and the Pacific Island Countries Climate Change Ministerial Talanoa with Australia and New Zealand.
As the curtain fell on the week of meetings, negotiators and officials stood shoulder to shoulder with renewed vigour for the work they do, and were given a reminder about why Pacific countries must continue to engage at the COP process, despite the challenges they encounter year after year.
“Climate change, as we have heard time and time again during the past few days, is a very serious threat to our Pacific communities and livelihoods. Our region, as our Pacific Leaders have declared, is in a state climate emergency. This is why the work you do is very important,” said His Excellency Sanlan William, of Vanuatu, as Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS).
“I want to thank you all for your participation and hard work. I want to thank SPREP’s Director General Sefanaia Nawadra and his team for convening us here in Nadi as well as the OneCROP team and the representatives of Climate Analytics for facilitating this meeting, providing the opportunity for our members to come together to share knowledge, lessons and priorities across a variety of negotiations areas.
“It was also a chance to reflect on how issues have advanced since COP28 and to coalesce around shared positions to advocate together as PSIDS as we journey towards COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. I wish you all the best and I pray for a successful outcome for all our Pacific countries.”
During the discussions, negotiators were adamant that the fight to keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels must remain the priority in all efforts to advance global climate ambition at COP29.
They also refined the Pacific’s positions and messaging around the priority thematic areas such as Climate Finance especially on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG), Mitigation, Just Transition, Adaptation, Finance, Article 6, Oceans and Climate Change, Loss and Damage, Global Stocktake (GST) and Gender and Social Inclusion.
SPREP’s Director of Climate Change Resilience, Ms Tagaloa Cooper, acknowledged the hard work of all the countries, and thanked the Government of Vanuatu, as the PSIDS Chair, for their leadership during the meetings this week. She also thanked the Government of Australia for supporting the work in Fiji this week.
“This week in this room, we have been reminded once again of how big our Ocean is and how powerful our people are. We’ve talked about hope amidst the chaos that we see, we’ve talked about helping each other, building and lifting each other up as we head into COP29 negotiations because we know how difficult it has been and will continue to be,” she said.
“At the end of the day, we all recognise that we can’t do this work in silos, we are more powerful when we do it together. So when you are in Baku negotiating, you are not only doing it for your children, your family and country, you are doing it for all of us. We are one big family in this Pacific region and this is what it is all about.”
COP29 scheduled for November is a key moment for world leaders to make progress on climate commitments.
The most recent COP, COP28, was held last year in Dubai and was the largest attended climate COP in history, convening 97,000 delegates, and more than 150 heads of state, along with negotiators, business leaders and non-state actors. The conclusion of the first ever Global Stock Take (GST) (a mid-term review of progress towards the 2015 Paris Agreement) was the event's key outcome and the conference emphasised the need for determined action to make progress on renewable energy, a just transition and more.
Many are calling COP29 the “finance COP”, seeing it as an opportunity to align climate finance contributions with estimated global needs. Pacific countries are amongst 198 countries that have signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and will have leaders, negotiators and officials in Baku for COP29.
The 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place from 11-22 November 2024 in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
The Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) COP29 Preparatory Meetings from 30 September – 3 October 2024 at Crowne Plaza Fiji, is funded by the Government of Australia and facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment (SPREP). The meeting includes the Pacific Island Countries Climate Change Ministerial Talanoa with Australia and New Zealand.
The meetings will focus on the Pacific’s priority thematic areas for climate change negotiations and will allow for discussion on strategic directions and agreed regional positions ahead of COP29.