President Urges Conservators to Work with COP23
President Major General (Ret’d) Jioji Konrote is encouraging conservation organisations to work closely with the COP23 secretariat.
This is to ensure that Pacific people face up to the threat posed by climate change and introduce innovative solutions to mitigate and help Pacific Islanders adapt to its reality.
While speaking at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) 70th Anniversary on Friday night, President Konrote said the Pacific region faces a number of existential threats not only to survival, but also to biodiversity and the very ecosystems upon which most of our livelihoods depend.
He said leaders the recent 49th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Nauru had reiterated that climate change was the single, greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of Pacific people.
“As a Pacific people, the Pacific Ocean unites us as a region,” President Konrote said.
“But our ocean is under threat. Marine debris, and increasingly plastic pollutants, are now becoming a very big threat to our source of livelihood.” He said IUCN was doing exactly what Fiji intends to do in terms of keeping the oceans clean and sustainable for the current and future generations.
“Fiji has played a lead role in co-chairing the inaugural United Nations Ocean Conference,” he said.
“It is playing a lead role in pushing the climate change agenda in our capacity as the President of COP23, and it will continue to call on world leaders to take more responsibility for global warming and the consequential impact of climate change.”
He acknowledged the staff members of the IUCN regional office.
Fiji has been a member of IUCN since May 1, 2009. He said IUCN had played a pivotal role in the establishment and sound management of marine protected areas. Edited by Ranoba Baoa