Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama says climate change threatens everyone, and we must work together to respond to this greatest of tests to our national security and only then we can be proud of handing Fijian children and grandchildren a safer and more resilient nation.
While opening the Climate Induced Security Workshop this morning at the Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort, Bainimarama says as they gather in the comfort of the air-conditioned room, he wants the participants to think of those Fijians in Kadavu, their struggles, and their spirit of resilience who went through the devastating impact of Tropical Cyclone Harold earlier this year.
He says it is for the sake of people in Kadavu, the sake of every Fijian, and the sake of all of humanity that they gather at Fiji’s first-ever Climate Induced Security Workshop to help address the impacts of climate change.
Bainimarama has thanked the Australian Government for its support to the Workshop in Fiji, both in its planning and funding. He says climate change is national security threat number one for Fiji and building climate resilience is complex and urgent of an issue as they come.
Bainimarama says the world looks to Fiji as a climate champion because Fiji was the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement, and among the first to engrain climate-centric thinking across the development by moving their Climate Change Unit into their Ministry of Economy.
He says that’s because they know that when it comes to a changing climate and rising seas, the best defence is a good offense where hundreds of millions of dollars are invested into the resilience and adaptation of Fijian infrastructure. He adds they have to step-up the pressure on the high-emitting countries of the world to commit to achieving net-zero emissions.
Bainimarama adds rising sea levels threaten our coastal communities, already resulting in the planned relocation of up to 48 communities across Fiji.
