Call From The Pacific For More Ambitious Climate Action Delivered At UN Climate Talks

The Pacific Climate Warriors, representing various grassroots, frontline and indigenous communities from across the Pacific region, today urged world leaders at COP23 in Bonn to take more ambitious action on climate change. In a special ceremony to mark the culmination of the #HaveYourSei campaign, which has seen Pacific Islanders all around the world call for action to protect their islands and people, the Warriors delivered their Declaration on Climate Change on big traditional tapa cloth to Pacific Island leaders and members of island delegations including Former President of Kiribati Anote Tong.

The Declaration has been signed by more than twenty-three thousand supporters including Siopili Perez, the head of Tokelau, the Samoan rugby team and the head of Choisel Province in the Solomon Islands, the first provincial capital in the Pacific to be relocated due to sea level rise.

"This is a Pacific-led COP, and we are here to ensure the world hears genuine voices from the Pacific. For the first time a Pacific nation, my nation, holds the COP presidency. We hope world leaders will acknowledge the significance of this moment, and honour their commitments to secure real climate justice. For more than two decades, negotiations have failed to deliver the action required to protect Pacific homes and livelihoods from dangerous climate change. We are fighting to protect our beautiful shared home," said George Nacewa, Climate Warrior from Fiji.

"As witnesses to the climate change that is already at our shores, we must share our stories. We must hold the drivers of climate change accountable, and impress upon them the urgency of action needed to keep fossil fuels in the ground, where they belong," said Kathy Jetnil- Kijiner Climate Warrior from the Marshall Islands.

The Pacific Climate Warriors Declaration on Climate Change is calling for:

• The immediate phase-out of existing fossil fuel projects -- the banning of all new fossil fuel infrastructure, shutting down of existing ones and canceling planned expansions. This should also coincide with commitments to rapidly transition towards 100% renewable energy, by no later than 2050.
• Immediately deliver the finance and support needed for countries already facing irreversible loss and damage. As well as the immediate establishment of adaptation mechanisms to cope with ongoing climate impacts.
• The prohibition of the fossil fuel industry from participating in the UNFCCC processes so that they can no longer delay, weaken and block action on climate change.
• The actioning of everything the Paris Agreement called for, including international efforts to ensure global average temperatures do not exceed 1.5 degrees from pre-industrial levels.

"Climate change is real and impacting us now. It's imperative that we stand up for the Pacific, and the global community, and act now to avoid further climate catastrophe. This COP should be about the people, not the profits of the polluters," concluded George Nacewa.