Tonga supports Fiji presidency at COP23

Tonga is supporting Fiji’s Presidency of the COP23 and looks forward to fruitful discussions that would see the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Fiji’s Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama is chairing the International Climate Change conference (COP23) which is currently being held here in Bonn, Germany.

Mr Paula Ma’u, the Head of the Tonga delegation and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of MEIDECC said Tonga supports Fiji’s Presidency and the call by Mr Bainimarama for urgency on the part of world leaders and climate change negotiators.

This is to ensure that action is taken now rather than later as Tonga and other Pacific countries continue to experience the effects of climate change.

After a colourful Fiji ceremony of welcome Prime Minister Bainimarama called for a sense of urgency while opening the climate change conference yesterday.

He told world leaders that "we must not fail our people" as he opened two weeks of talks on implementing the Paris Agreement.

While diplomats and activists gathered in Bonn, the U.N. weather agency said that 2017 is set to become the hottest year on record aside from those impacted by the El Nino phenomenon.

The talks in Germany also mark the first time that a small island nation is chairing such a conference.

Negotiators will focus on thrashing out some of the technical details of the 2015 Paris accord, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"The need for urgency is obvious," PM Bainimarama said.

"Our world is in distress from the extreme weather events caused by climate change."

"We must not fail our people" and must make the Paris accord work, Mr Bainimarama said, adding that means to "meet our commitments in full, not back away from them."

The meeting began with schoolchildren chanting "Save the World" processing into the conference hall and a traditional Fijian welcoming ceremony.

The U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said this year is already on track to be one of the three hottest years of all time, after 2015 and 2016, which were both affected by a powerful El Nino — which can contribute to higher temperatures.

Last year set a record for the average global temperature.

WMO says key indicators of climate change — such as rising carbon-dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, rising sea levels and the acidification of oceans — "continue unabated" this year.

It said the global mean temperature from January to September this year was about a half-degree Celsius warmer than the 1981-2010 average, which was estimated to be 14.31 degrees C (57.76 Fahrenheit).

The five-year average temperature from 2013 to 2017 is more than 1 degree Celsius higher than that during the pre-industrial period.

Participants at the Bonn conference include diplomats from 195 nations, as well as scientists, lobbyists and environmentalists.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders are expected to appear near the end of the summit to give the talks a final push.

German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks called for "significant progress" in Bonn on implementing the Paris accord.

The Tonga delegation will be in Bonn for the duration of the conference and will also be involved in plenary sessions to discuss the different topics relating to climate change.

 

Photo caption: The members of the Tonga delegation here at the main Bula Zone 1 after the official opening of the COP23 today. They are Mr. Samuela Pohiva(MIA), Ms Vika Sivoki Soakai (MoF), Ms Losana Latu(MEIDECC), Ms Luisa Tuiafitu Malolo (Director of Climate Change), Mr Paula Ma'u (CEO of MEIDECC), Ms Saane Lolo MoF), Ms.Ana Loiloi Fekau (MEIDECC)and Mr.Sione Talo Fulivai (MEIDECC). 

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