Climate change is real, what are we to do about it?

To mitigate the rapidly felt effects of climate change, it is important that the need for Fiji and other Pacific Island nations to access the fund is dealt with seriously and swiftly. Climate change is real. It is not a hoax.

We should be aiming more towards 70 tonnes or 80 tonnes a hectare and I certainly believe when I look at a farm like this, we should be able to get that. Graham Clark Fiji Sugar Corporation chief executive officer

Climate change is real. 100 metres of land washed away in Vutia, Rewa, last December was real.

People’s livelihood being affected is real. The graves of the Dunn family of Toguru Settlement in Navua being inundated with water is real. Vutia Village being reduced to 80 acres on one side of the island from close to 200 acres is real. Less fish in the ocean is real.

What is happening in Kiribati is real.

Will we wait for the same to happen to us? What more evidence do we need?

How much longer will this go on for? Land has strong sentimental value for the indigenous community, but if that land is being washed away, what will they hold onto?

For far too long, the Pacific islands people have watched their lives change.

They have watched the final resting place of their ancestors being washed away. Land for farming is getting lesser and lesser.

Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s presidency of COP23 is the answer. It is the answer not only for Fiji but for all the small island states in the Pacific.

Fiji has already started taking steps towards this. The Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum spoke about the need to access finance to fight the effects of climate change and this was another reality.

Our nation and similar small island states need access to the Green Climate fund.

The Green Climate Fund is a fund within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) founded as a mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.

To mitigate the rapidly felt effects of climate change, it is important that the need for Fiji and other Pacific Island nations to access the fund is dealt with seriously and swiftly.

And, most importantly, on an international level, our voices need to be heard.

Climate change is real. It is not a hoax.