Pacific leaders stress need for ‘unity’ during difficult times

The Pacific Islands Forum stressed solidarity in addressing the many challenges facing the region, with climate change affecting nearly every area of ​​discussion.

Pacific policing, regional security climate change and the New Caledonia crisis were the main topics discussed this week as regional leaders headed to a retreat on the island of Vava’u.

The regional body has since agreed to send a Pacific-led mission to New Caledonia, at the request of the Government of New Caledonia, noting that both New Caledonia and France have agreed to the terms of reference for the Forum Troika mission.

They also welcomed Australia’s support for the Pacific Policing Initiative, which will see a police training facility in Brisbane and a “Pacific Police Support Group” that can be deployed to Pacific nations.

These are contained in the Final Communiqué, a key document issued at the end of the Pacific region’s annual flagship event, which has now been released at the close of the 53rd Forum in Tonga.

Communiqué

The leaders congratulated Saudi Arabia on this year’s theme of “Pacific Islands of Transformation and Resilience: Building Better Now”, saying it once again demonstrated the importance of the Pacific community’s comprehensive resilience in areas such as climate change, environmental degradation, economic development, and health and education challenges.

The organization also recognized the centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum and its “critical role in promoting regional development and regional cooperation.”

“Despite the differences in perspectives, leaders reaffirmed the power of collective efforts and further emphasized the need to be flexible and adapt to the changing strategic environment.

“The leaders further stressed the importance of unity in the face of the many challenges and opportunities facing the region, including economic growth, sustainable development, resource management and partnerships.”

Leaders took note of the Secretary-General’s overview, the Treaty of Rarotonga report and reaffirmed the Blue Pacific Continental Strategy 2050 – a “roadmap” for how the Pacific region can best respond to the impacts of global warming.

The group also discussed progress on the Regional Architecture Review (RRA), stressed the importance of the RRA’s work to the implementation of the 2050 Strategy and reiterated the need for the RRA to take into account the decisions outlined in the Suva Agreement.

On health, leaders discussed the vulnerability of Pacific health systems to climate change impacts such as sea level rise and extreme weather, recognizing that 62% of critical health facilities are located within 500 meters of the coastline.

Leaders acknowledged that improving climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure is critical to mitigating risks and effectively managing climate-sensitive diseases, and discussed the ongoing health workforce crisis and the uneven distribution and outflow of skilled professionals.

In education, key areas considered by leaders include investing in climate-resilient and digital education infrastructure, as well as developing localized and culturally relevant curricula that incorporate disaster preparedness.

Climate change ‘is an urgent priority’

The communique noted that climate change “remains a priority for the Pacific region and is linked to issues of resilient development”.

Leaders reaffirmed the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP), committing to inclusive and innovative approaches and solutions to build resilience for well-being.

They welcomed the Australian Government’s latest progress on its bid to host the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP 31) in 2026 in partnership with the Pacific region.

Leaders recognized the need to coordinate regional efforts to effectively address disaster risks, manage humanitarian action and response, advocate for timely access to disaster risk financing, and participate meaningfully in international conferences.

On sea level rise, they discussed the widespread nature of climate change and recognized that sea level rise is a serious manifestation of climate change that threatens Pacific communities, especially low-lying nations.

“As a result, the leaders agreed to raise the issue of sea level rise to the political level, including at the UN General Assembly.”

The communique stated: “The leaders welcomed the dedicated high-level plenary meeting on the theme ‘Addressing the existential threat posed by the Navy SEAL escalation’ to be held in New York on September 25, 2024.”

The leaders strongly called for the inclusion of sea level rise as an independent issue in the General Assembly and other relevant UN processes.

They also reaffirmed their support and commitment to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), recognizing it as the first Pacific-led, member-owned and governed, people-centric climate and disaster resilience financing fund.

They warmly welcomed the commitment by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Forum Leaders to support the capitalization of the Pacific Resilience Fund, with an initial funding target of US$500 million by 1 January 2026 and a long-term goal of US$1.5 billion.

Australia, Saudi Arabia, the People’s Republic of China and the United States have all contributed to the fund, and the communique noted that Pacific leaders are urging other dialogue partners to commit to contributions to enable the fund to achieve its objectives.

Luxon’s view on PIF

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the leaders’ retreat in Tonga was a “really successful meeting” with a major focus on raising the Forum’s profile on the global stage.

“We talked a lot about working around regional architecture and infrastructure to support the mechanisms and different bodies and subcommittees within the PIF to ensure that it is stronger and therefore has greater impact.”

He said the two sides also discussed the situation in New Caledonia, where a “troika” of leaders from Fiji, the Cook Islands and Tonga would visit, but that constitutional arrangements would also ultimately be decided by the people.

Asked about the Pacific Resilience Fund, which was established in Tonga with support from other partners including the United States and Australia, he said people should not assume New Zealand’s name was not on the list of supporters.

“We do support it and what we discussed is that we would also like to see some clarity around the legal obligations, the governance of the fund and how it would work in practice,” he said.

“The commitment they made was conditional on ensuring that the actual management of the fund was in place, and that’s what we’re going to make sure happens.”

When reporters asked him whether the forum’s focus on climate issues had given him time to consider lifting the ban on oil and gas exploration, he pushed back.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

“As I said to you, and I tried to explain this very clearly… this was not an issue in the conversation. I know you want to talk about this from a media perspective, but no leader has discussed this with me over the last few days.

“You have to remember that New Zealand is starting from a) a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and b) we are one of the top five countries with 87 per cent renewable energy.

“It’s a cute bumper sticker, and we all want to end fossil fuels, but … you have to have a plan, you have to think about some second- and third-order consequences of that bumper sticker and think about it carefully.”

Asked if there was anything new to take away from the meeting, he replied: “As you all know, New Zealand has done an outstanding job, we have exceeded our targets and invested heavily in a number of initiatives in the Pacific, and my Pacific colleagues and partners have appreciated that, and I have appreciated that as well.

“We have a range of projects underway in the Pacific and I think people know we are a good, trusted partner, we are committed to the region and we want to … build deeper relationships, deeper commitments.

“We actually want to strengthen the core position of PIF… So as you can see, the maturation and development of PIF including building more capabilities, policing programs, education infrastructure, promoting renewable energy, implementing the 2050 strategy are actually very important. So I think it will go from strength to strength.”