Prime Minister and COP 23 President Voreqe Bainimarama says no one has ever lived through an extreme weather event like the cyclone that struck Fiji last year.
Bainimarama highlighted this while officiating at the UNDP Revolution for Climate Change event at the COP 23 in Bonn, Germany.
He says no one has lived through the fury, terror the sense of helplessness and loss.
Bainimarama says when he toured the Tropical Cyclone Winston affected areas, he marvelled at the resilience of the people as their sense of helplessness gave them determination to bounce back and to rebuild their destroyed homes, schools and lives.
The Prime Minister says TC Winston sharpened his determination to make Fiji more climate resilient.
Bainimarama says he is also deeply honoured by the global community which has placed confidence in Fiji to chart a way forward for all at the COP.
He says climate change adaptation is a development issue and is not a scientific or environmental issue.
Bainimarama says every development decision from now on has to be made with building climate resilience. He says this is what is being done in Fiji and must be done around the world.
He says to tackle climate change we need to build a coalition within our societies to address the climate threat.
