12 May 2015 Apia Samoa PCCR - For Pacific Islanders, the snowy mountains of landlocked Switzerland must seem a world away.
However, His Excellency David Vogelsanger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Samoa, reminded us today that extreme weather events are not only an issue in the Pacific.
"Switzerland is just like small Pacific Islands states: it is a country that during its own history had to also fight the forces of nature, but in a very different way. Our challenge is the mountains and the snow. We have recently had one of the hardest and coldest winters in a very long time and quite a number of people unfortunately died".
His Excellency Vogelsanger was among the high level speakers who opened the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable taking place this week in Apia, the capital of Samoa.
The Roundtable is a bi-annual meeting of national governments of Pacific countries, regional organisations, and development partners involved in climate change in the Pacific region.
It is the premier forum for the region to share ideas and ensure coordination to support Pacific Island Countries and Territories efforts on climate change. The Government of Switzerland have been the major supporter of the Roundtable since 2008.
His Excellency Vogelsanger said of Switzerland's support for the meeting: "We financed the Roundtable because Climate Change is close to the hearts of the citizens of our country, that is very different from your countries, and on the other side of the globe. We all have a common responsibility to reduce greenhouse gases, to consume less non-renewable energy and to manage waste".
"We want to stand by you, we want to be involved in this debate, we want to support your countries and we want to be amongst those states that ensure that the worst case scenarios do not happen. We are also standing by your nations who are directly affected, we will continue to stand by you, we will continue work together with you and we will continue to help when we can, a magnificent organisation, your organisation, that is SPREP" said His Excellency Vogelsanger.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is an inter-governmental regional organisation charged by the governments and administrations of the Pacific region with the protection and sustainable development of the region's environment.
"I would like to thank all development partners who have supported this Roundtable – in particular our major supporter, the Government of Switzerland who have been with us from the very start in 2008, helping make our vision of the Pacific Climate Change roundtable a reality," said Mr. David Sheppard, Director General of SPREP.
His Excellency Vogelsanger closed his address with a reminder of why so many were gathered together today: "I would like to wish you a successful meeting, and hope you will all go back to your countries with what has been discussed and learned here. As is true for all of us, it is only the concrete steps that are taken that count, it is not conferences, or papers, or trips, it is what we do when we go back home as citizens and leaders that is most important".
The Pacific Climate Change Roundtable is held from 12 – 14 May in Apia, Samoa. The event has been held since 2008 on a biannual basis coordinated by SPREP in partnership with others and is coordinated by SPREP with the guidance from a steering committee.
The PCCR has been made possible with support from the Government of Switzerland, Government of Samoa, Government of Australia, European Union, GIZ, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), University of the South Pacific (USP) and the Pacific Council of Churches (PCC). Additional funding support was provided by the EU-GIZ Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (ACSE) Programme, and Climate Analytics through its High Level Support Mechanism (HLSM) project as well as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). #pccr2015