Climate Change Resilience
10 December 2014, Lima, Peru - The UN Small Island Developing States Conference hosted in Samoa this year has been hailed, as a concrete example of how partnerships can be fostered and nurtured to provide tangible and sustainable results at the UN Climate Convention in Lima today.
Samoa is hopeful that the same spirit of trust and cooperation will prevail and underpin the climate change deliberations in Lima and on the road to Paris.
Taking the stage at the High Level Segment, the Hon. Fa'amoetauloa Lealaiauloto Taito Dr. Fa'ale Tumali'i, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa shared the impact of climate change now being experienced by communities on Samoa, calling upon all parties for assurance.
"Samoa's vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change is high, and growing. In 2012, Cyclone Evan ripped through Samoa not once, but twice and left behind untold destruction of a nature we had never seen or experienced before," presented the Minister today.
"We would like to be assured that all Parties will commit to making emissions reductions. We want to be assured that those reductions will be real, and that we can account for what the atmosphere sees. We want to be assured that climate change financing will be real and meaningful and that it will actually reach those that need it the most."
The UN Climate Convention in Lima is laying the foundation to a new global climate change treaty which must be agreed upon by the end of December next year at a Conference hosted in Paris.
Samoa has clearly outlined what the island nation would like to see in this new legal agreement.
"At a minimum it must underline the primary role of developed countries and all major emitters with the capacity to take ambitious action and to assist Small Island Developing States to be ambitious with their own commitments and plans for a low-carbon and climate-resilient inclusive development," presented the Minister.
The SAMOA Pathway - SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action Pathway, the outcome of the third UN Conference on Small Islands Developing States hosted in Samoa this year, captures the diverse challenges of SIDS and the significance of partnerships as an important means to address these challenges.
Within the SAMOA Pathway there are several highlighted points that are strongly linked to climate change that encompass the advocacy role of SIDS in raising awareness of the urgent need for ambitious global actions to mitigate and adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change, amongst others.
"We seek support to build SIDS resilience to improve their adaptive capacity through the design and implementation of climate change adaptation measures appropriate to their respective vulnerabilities and economic, environmental and social situations," stated the Minister who closed his statement with a message of optimism for the future.
"It is my delegation's hope that we lay here in Lima a foundation for a strong agreement in Paris that will give us a cleaner, healthier and better sustainable future."
The High Level Segment of the 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ends on Thursday, 11 December.
To access the full statement by the Hon. Fa'amoetauloa Lealaiauloto Taito Dr. Fa'ale Tumali'i, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa, please visit: http://unfccc.int/meetings/lima_dec_2014/statements/items/8733.php
Samoa is hopeful that the same spirit of trust and cooperation will prevail and underpin the climate change deliberations in Lima and on the road to Paris.
Taking the stage at the High Level Segment, the Hon. Fa'amoetauloa Lealaiauloto Taito Dr. Fa'ale Tumali'i, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa shared the impact of climate change now being experienced by communities on Samoa, calling upon all parties for assurance.
The Hon. Fa'amoetauloa Lealaiauloto Taito Dr. Fa'ale Tumali'i, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa takes centre stage at the UN Climate Convention in Lima
"Samoa's vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change is high, and growing. In 2012, Cyclone Evan ripped through Samoa not once, but twice and left behind untold destruction of a nature we had never seen or experienced before," presented the Minister today.
"We would like to be assured that all Parties will commit to making emissions reductions. We want to be assured that those reductions will be real, and that we can account for what the atmosphere sees. We want to be assured that climate change financing will be real and meaningful and that it will actually reach those that need it the most."
The UN Climate Convention in Lima is laying the foundation to a new global climate change treaty which must be agreed upon by the end of December next year at a Conference hosted in Paris.
Samoa has clearly outlined what the island nation would like to see in this new legal agreement.
"At a minimum it must underline the primary role of developed countries and all major emitters with the capacity to take ambitious action and to assist Small Island Developing States to be ambitious with their own commitments and plans for a low-carbon and climate-resilient inclusive development," presented the Minister.
The SAMOA Pathway - SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action Pathway, the outcome of the third UN Conference on Small Islands Developing States hosted in Samoa this year, captures the diverse challenges of SIDS and the significance of partnerships as an important means to address these challenges.
Within the SAMOA Pathway there are several highlighted points that are strongly linked to climate change that encompass the advocacy role of SIDS in raising awareness of the urgent need for ambitious global actions to mitigate and adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change, amongst others.
"We seek support to build SIDS resilience to improve their adaptive capacity through the design and implementation of climate change adaptation measures appropriate to their respective vulnerabilities and economic, environmental and social situations," stated the Minister who closed his statement with a message of optimism for the future.
The Minister shares highlights of the SAMOA Pathway document at the UN Climate Convention in Lima
"It is my delegation's hope that we lay here in Lima a foundation for a strong agreement in Paris that will give us a cleaner, healthier and better sustainable future."
The High Level Segment of the 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ends on Thursday, 11 December.
To access the full statement by the Hon. Fa'amoetauloa Lealaiauloto Taito Dr. Fa'ale Tumali'i, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Samoa, please visit: http://unfccc.int/meetings/lima_dec_2014/statements/items/8733.php