The Solomon Islands government has stood by its neighbouring Pacific Island, Vanuatu in the ‘Vanuatu-led initiative requesting support from the UN to ask the International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on Climate Change.
Speaking on behalf of the government and people of Solomon Islands, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare made the call during his UNGA speech in New York last weekend.
Prime Minister Sogavare said, “The Solomon Islands also commends the ‘Vanuatu-led initiative requesting support from the UN to ask the International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on Climate Change that has also been strongly supported by Pacific Leaders,” he said.
“I stand here in solidarity with my Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters to continue our fight against Climate Change. The onset of extreme temperatures, heat waves, droughts, flooding, and sea level rise has increased the vulnerability of Pacific countries to the negative impacts of climate change.”
He added, for at least developing countries like the Solomon Islands, vulnerability is a key hindrance to sustainable development.
“Currently, indicators to measure vulnerability are inadequate. The Solomon Islands, therefore, calls on all states and partners to support the development of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) and looks forward to its finalization and adoption,” he said.
“Pacific Island countries including the Solomon Islands are in a constant mode of recovery from disasters. Global financial mechanisms for disaster recovery need to be established to ensure the economic burden of recovery and ‘building back better and stronger following rapid-onset disasters and climate-related disasters are not borne solely by countries that are in serious need of support.”
Prime Minister Sogavare lamented the sad yet unfortunate thing to see happen is to keep seeing more resources being spent in wars globally.
“With these challenges, the Pacific region has declared a ‘state of climate emergency.’ Sadly, we are seeing more resources spent on wars than on combating climate change. This is extremely unfortunate.”
He calls on all partners to support the “Pacific Resilience Facility” – a financing mechanism that aims to build resilience and reduce the vulnerability of Pacific populations to the negative impacts of climate change.
A pledging session for the facility was also held during the UNGA session.
“We call on all partners to support the Facility.”
He also calls for every nation to play their part in the 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.
“As the world continues to combat climate change, we ask all parties going into COP27, to set more ambitious National Determined Contributions, that would put our world on a 1.5 degrees Celsius pathway.”
“We would also like to see a roadmap for ease of access, and timely disbursements of the US 100 billion adaptation finance by 2025. The discussions on Loss and Damage demand a stand-alone agenda and COP27 aimed at establishing a ‘Loss and damage financing facility,” he added.
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Rising Tide 