The role of parliamentarians in addressing climate change is crucial in allowing ordinary citizens to understand its impacts, how it affects them and what can be done.
This was highlighted by the Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and President of COP23 while addressing parliamentarians from around the world at the Inter‑Parliamentary Union at the occasion of COP23 which was organised by the Parliaments of both Germany and Fiji.
Bainimarama says parliamentarians play a special role in informing citizens on climate change and what leaders are doing to address its impacts that includes adaptation and mitigation measures.
He says when it comes to climate change, parliamentarians have a special duty to connect understanding of this complex challenge with the needs and interests of their constituents.
Bainimarama also updated the parliamentarians on the progress made at this year's COP conference and was pleased to report that in the first week of COP, they have achieved a great deal of substance.
He says clear progress is being made on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the beginnings of a text are emerging.
The Prime Minister says there is general agreement on the need for greater ambition and certainly the mood at COP is a lot more positive than some might have expected, given the challenges to the multilateral consensus on decisive action of which we are all aware.
He says Fiji certainly thinks that it has brought something to these negotiations that is both distinctive and effective.
