‘Not Conducive To Our Survival’: Pacific Islands Respond To Cop28 Deal

"The agreement was hailed as a win for climate action, but Pacific campaigners say it is too little too late in a rapidly warming world".

"“We are now swimming against the tide and trying our best to survive,” Lavenia Naivalu told Cop28 this month.

Speaking on an Indigenous panel representing the Pacific, the iTaukei woman from the island of Yasawa in Fiji told the annual climate conference that rising sea levels and flash flooding are “a real threat” to daily life in her country. Last month alone two flash floods in Fiji’s central and eastern divisions caused landslides and blocked roads.

After years of campaigning for stronger action on climate change, small vulnerable nations like Fiji hoped Cop28 would deliver a meaningful global commitment to preventing its worst effects from wreaking havoc on their shores.

But despite a landmark consensus on loss and damage funding and fossil fuels, those on the frontline of the climate crisis are disappointed by a final agreement that does little to grapple with the reality of a rapidly warming world."

Sera Sefeti reports for the Guardian December 19, 2023.

Source: Guardian, 12/21/2023