Robert Matau CAIRNS FORUM     2






Who would have thought that Tessie Lambourne, a humble civil servant of Kiribati, would rub shoulders with the region’s leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting?
In 1981, who would have believed that a young Kevin Rudd, then also a career civil servant embarking on a career as a diplomat, would become the Prime Minister of Australia.
Rudd, the former civil servant, met Lambourne, the current civil servant, at the Cairns  meeting in August as she carried her small nation’s hopes with her.
While the critics were not impressed with the final wordings in the communiqué, Lambourne and her fellow Pacific leaders were satisfied that what came out of the final communiqué reflected consensus.
Lambourne was part of the original entourage that left Kiribati with Vice President Teima Onorio after President Anote Tong stayed back to grieve for his relatives lost at sea during a maritime tragedy. But Mrs Onorio fell sick on the way and it was over to Lambourne to take up her small islands nation’s concerns with the rest of the leaders, all of them men.
Being the only woman on that negotiating table was an experience Lambourne would never forget. Being schooled in her island of Kiribati and losing her mother at a young age meant she had to grow up faster than those kids her age at the time. It seems this was another moment in her life where she had to jump in the deep end to learn to swim amongst the king tides.
“At first, it was a bit overwhelming being a civil servant and being amongst all the leaders,” she said.
On the watered down AOSIS claims, she said there were some aspects of the communiqué that were very strong and reflected their interest.
“One is the call on the international community to provide concrete solutions to us in the post-2012 arrangement, I think that is something that suits our needs,” she said.
Kiribati, as a member of AOSIS, followed that position to reduce emission by 2020. Niue Premier Toke Talagi said it was consistent with AOSIS’s stand to ask major powers to reduce gas emissions by 45 percent by 2020.
But the final communique calls for states to reduce global emissions by at least 50 percent below the 1990 levels by 2050.
“As in any negotiation, there is going to be a compromise but the thing about the language there is a call for percentage reduction but the word at least provides room for major leaders to reduce,” Lambourne said.
There is a consensus by everybody that we should go to Copenhagen and for Australia and New Zealand to push the major leaders to achieve our targets.
“There is consensus and agreement towards climate change and there is unity in the regional position on this. We are confident that Australia as chairman of this forum will take us forward. There are two more meetings of the G20 where he will advance our position,” she said.