Commonwealth confirms support for Fiji’s climate action strategies

The Commonwealth has confirmed its commitment and support for Fiji’s climate action strategies on adaptation, mitigation and resilience building.

This is following a bilateral meeting between the Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Patricia Scotland at Marlborough House in London.

The meeting focused on cooperation opportunities in the build up to the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2024 to be held Samoa this October.

The Prime Minister says the Government, through the Great Council of Chiefs, will extend an invitation to King Charles III to visit Fiji while he is in the Pacific region for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

During this meeting the Pacific anticipates adoption of the Commonwealth Ocean Declaration, a strategy that will solidify the collective commitment to ocean conservation and align with Sustainable Development Goal 14.

Rabuka says the Commonwealth has an extensive programme of action and initiatives ranging from tackling ocean-related challenges and sustainable ocean development, addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, climate finance access hub, debt management and connectivity, amongst others.

On ocean conservation, Rabuka says Fiji is proud to lead the Ocean and Climate Change Action Group under the Commonwealth Blue Charter, reflecting our commitment to addressing critical oceanic challenges such as climate change, marine pollution and unsustainable fishing practices.

He adds Fiji also looks forward to taking advantage of the Commonwealth’s Artificial Intelligence Consortium to support digital upskilling of young people and bridge the digital divide for small states.