Pacific climate dangers losing out to resource stampede
Updated
Climate change is looming as a key issue for next week's Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting, and a former senior Fijian public service says the Pacific's been forgotten in the climate change debate. Consultant Emele Duituturaga was chief executive of Fiji's Ministry of Women, Social Welfare, Poverty Alleviation and Housing prior to the 2006 coup.
In the second part of her interview with our Canberra correspondent Linda Mottram, Emele Duituturaga says the wider world's more interested in the Pacific's resources, than in its future.
Presenter: Linda Mottram, Canberra correspondent
Speaker: Emele Duituturaga, former chief executive of Fiji's Ministry of Women, Social Welfare, Poverty Alleviation and Housing
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EMELE DUITUTURAGA: I believe that the Pacific is invisible, the climate change impacts on Pacific communities is very serious but this is not taken seriously. Rising sea level, food security resettlement, forced migrations, these are all affecting our Pacific communities and I don't believe, Linda, that governments, Australia, New Zealand for that matter, can continue to talk about development without looking at the impacts of climate change and most importantly the links, you know, with economic models, trade agreements, these all have impacts on the community and the types of model pursued by Western economies that impact badly on our communities, we all have to work together to look at, you know, how do we develop Pacific communities, how do we support growth but does not have a negative impact. And I think why people don't take it seriously is because we're often not seen, not heard, invisible, you know, our issues don't often make it into a mainstream media and so we're kind of like just the forgotten part of the region. I think people are more interested in our resources, our land, our sea, our forests, they're not particularly concerned about how these developments and the availability of development capital is impacting negatively on our streams, on our food security, on our future basically.
LINDA MOTTRAM: Well Australia has $150 million allocated to mitigation and climate change research in the Pacific, should Australia allocate more?
EMELE DUITUTURAGA: Yes, I mean I guess it can also be said that no amount of money could solve the problem. I think if it's $150 million and that's it, I think what is important is to hear the different voices. Sometimes this research is commissioned by institutes or, you know, if they're done by Australian-based organisations they don't often have the Pacific Island perspective, it doesn't reach the corners that are most affected and so what we need to see from this $150 million is what are these issues, how is it impacting on the daily lives of Pacific communities and come up with ways in which Australia can assist and that's not just in terms of adapting to the changes, but what can Australia do differently, you know, to mitigate against this? What can Pacific governments do together with Australia? So I think the research needs to be action orientated, it needs to hear the different voices that there are and it really needs to get down to a lot of these survival and development issues for communities.
LINDA MOTTRAM: One of the big questions raised is the possibility of the need for migration. I mean perhaps small island states disappearing completely and them being faced with the issue of how you maintain your nationhood and where you maintain it, is that an issue that needs to be addressed more overtly by Western nations before it lands on their doorstep?
EMELE DUITUTURAGA: Oh yes, I do believe that and I know Tuvalu, you know, is hard at negotiating this. I've just seen a declaration by the Micronesian states. These islands are sinking. We can go into denial and not worry about it until they're actually floating on water. I think there are many issues. I appreciate it's not easy to resolve them but there is the survival of people, they need to have a future, the children need to - you know, there has to be some longer - medium to long term planning.
