A call is being made to the key donors and investors to contribute to the Pacific Resilience Facility that will help vulnerable Pacific people exposed to climate change and disaster risks, particularly women and girls, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.
This call is being made by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad while speaking during the "Rethinking Climate Finance - The Role of the Pacific Resilience Facility" event on the margins of COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Professor Prasad says their support will enable the Pacific to scale up their efforts, implement more comprehensive resilience projects, and ensure that no community is left behind.
He further says after decades of struggle with international funds and initiatives that fail to adequately respond to the Pacific’s contexts and needs, the Pacific Resilience Facility is emblematic of the fact that they can no longer wait for international finance architecture to evolve.
He says the Facility demonstrates our commitment to addressing our needs, embracing home-grown and fit for purpose financing solutions, and our dedication to financial innovation.
Professor Prasad says this Pacific-led initiative will fill a critical gap – namely the lack of finance for community-based resilience-building.
He says building Pacific resilience cannot be achieved without financing channels that are dedicated to localised solutions and micro-investments that need to be replicated across hundreds of communities. The Deputy Prime Minister says it is welcome that the Facility has received financial commitments from a range of international partners and that it was recognised in the COP28 decision on loss and damage finance as an example of a new funding arrangement for loss and damage.
Professor Prasad says it is also their hope that the COP29 climate negotiations will advance this recognition of the Facility to a tangible and meaningful financial outcome for the Pacific, recognising the challenges around setting the New Collective Quantified Goals.
