Enhancing Pacific engagement in international climate change negotiations is the focus of a partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Government of Australia. Aptly named the Strengthening Pacific Leadership in International Climate Change Engagement (SPLICE) project, its impacts have rippled across the Pacific Small Islands Developing States.
In 2023, SPLICE supported the first Pacific Loss and Damage Dialogue, bringing together Pacific governments, civil society, academia, non-governmental agencies and the private sector for discussion about Loss and Damage and its impacts on the Pacific. The dialogue explored the long-term needs of the Pacific for responding to Loss and Damage and the climate crisis. The dialogue helped to inform the Pacific’s position at the Twenty eighth UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai.
At COP28, SPLICE also supported Pacific engagement and amplification of our One Pacific Voice on climate change through the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion – the Pacific’s home away from home at the conference. The Pavilion hosted more than 70 side events and provided a platform and networking space for sharing experiences to help our Pacific people bring to the fore the challenges and realities confronting Pacific islands, and these experiences supported the region’s engagement in the climate change negotiations.
“We all know that Pacific islands have smaller and less resourced civil services than those they are often seeking to influence. To engage effectively in the international climate change arena, we are empowering Pacific negotiators to actively participate in the international process, providing them with the tools and capabilities through technical briefings and negotiations support.” said Ms Tagaloa Cooper, Director of Climate Change Resilience of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
Pacific communities have long been on the frontline of the climate crisis, dealing with the most extreme and devastating of impacts. Pacific Leaders have identified climate change as the ‘greatest existential threat facing the Blue Pacific continent’, and have committed to work together, with a collective vision, to pursue bold climate change action, and communicating the region’s vision at the international climate change negotiations through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Pacific has played an active and prominent role in securing ambitious outcomes in international climate change negotiations. While the Pacific is committed to pursuing bold climate change action through negotiations and the UNFCCC, several hurdles impact their ability to achieve effective outcomes. With the SPLICE project starting in mid-2022, work continues across this year to prepare our Pacific Small Islands Developing States for the UNFCCC COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11 to 22 November.
On the Pacific journey to COP29, SPLICE will support the preparatory meeting for PSIDS climate change ministers and negotiators in October 2024. The meeting will focus on Pacific priority areas for negotiations at COP29 and allow for discussion on strategic directions and agreed regional positions for strengthened engagement this year.
“The SPLICE project is the first investment in a regional programme that specifically focuses on providing support towards the Pacific’s engagement in the UNFCCC process with the goal of amplifying its voice.It will ensure the Pacific are coordinated on negotiating objectives and approaches to negotiations. This will include the development of a common understanding of key issues pertinent to the Pacific, like Adaptation and Loss and Damage, through improved coordination and regular regional dialogue,” said Mr Ewan Cameron, SPREP’s International Climate Change Engagement Project Coordinator.
“While we’re supporting in as many ways as possible theempowerment of our Pacific Small Islands Developing States, we also know that to be influential in international climate change negotiations, the Pacific requires strong networks with which to share resources and amplify their voices.”
SPLICE is also funding Pacific Islands attendance to COP29 for stronger engagement through increased numbers.
This programme is made possible through the support of the Government of Australia, through its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The SPLICE Project began in 2022 and will end in June 2026.