Islands Business - Outgoing Forum chair says it’s time to talk resettlement

CAIRNS, Australia ----- The outgoing chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, Premier of Niue Toke Talagi, says it may be time for the regional organisation to consider formal discussion of the issue of resettlement of people affected by climate change.

Speaking at the official opening of the Forum in Cairns on Wednesday morning, Mr. Talagi stated: “For all of us, climate change will remain a persistent issue. The costs, both social and economic, associated with it will persist, if not increase.”

He added: “While all of us are affected, the situation for small island states is quite worrisome. For them, choices such as resettlement must be considered seriously and I wonder whether the Forum is ready to commence formal discussion on the matter.”

Earlier in the week, Mr. Talagi reaffirmed the Pacific Small Island States’ commitment to calls for significant cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. Mr. Talagi supported the call by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) for 45 per cent cuts by 2020, and 85 per cent by 2050.

Incoming Forum chair, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, echoed the call for action on climate change, which he described as “the great challenge of our time.” Climate change is a central topic at the meeting, with Forum host Kevin Rudd moving the item to the head of the agenda for discussion in the first working session of Forum leaders.

Non-government, church and community organisations have been meeting in Cairns on the fringes of the official Forum leaders meeting, and climate change is on their agenda as well.

Church and community leaders from Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tokelau, FSM, West Papua, Australia and New Zealand met on Tuesday, to map out regional action on climate change in the lead up to the December 2009 negotiations in Copenhagen.

Pacific community leaders stressed that they want action by developing countries in Copenhagen so that the resettlement issue can be delayed.

Reverend Tafue Lusama of Tuvalu says: “We do not want to lose our identity, and our identity is strongly tied to our land. Losing our land literally means our death as a distinct people on the face of this planet. You do not want to be responsible for that, so act urgently to avoid that happening.”

A report issued by the non-government development organisation Oxfam last week stated that 75 million people in the Asia Pacific region may be displaced because of climate change by 2050, with vulnerable communities in Pacific atoll nations on the climate frontline.