First-Ever Climate Change Bill for Fiji - Have Your Say!
This is the purpose of the Climate Change Bill. Climate Change Bill 2019 aims to provide a comprehensive framework that will guide Fiji’s response to climate change
Our islands are known for their turquoise waters, marine areas speckled with beautiful coral reefs and untouched forests. The idyllic beauty of our home is incomparable. If there was one way to describe paradise, Fiji would fit the description perfectly.
What one wouldn’t give to preserve all of this beauty forever!
And yet, bit by bit, this is all being lost, marred by the devastating effects of climate change. Our forebears never imagined that the pristine beauty of our islands would slowly be eroded and someday be destroyed.
Climate change is the greatest danger facing our planet, and our country today. This is especially true of island nations like Fiji.
Climate Change Bill
This is why the Fijian Government has introduced a Climate Change Bill and is inviting Fijians to share their thoughts on what our focus should be in the years ahead. You can share your ideas on bit.ly/
climatebillspeak during this consultation period.
You can find the climate change bill on this link: bit.ly/climatebillfiJI
Fiji as we all know, through our Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, is a leader in the global fight against climate change.
Due to our position on the planet, and the new global shift in temperature caused by human actions, this phenomenon has affected us in a truly disastrous way. A not often mentioned fact is small island nations like ours are affected disproportionately by climate change. The sad fact? Those who cause the least damage are affected the most.
Cyclones Gavin, Bebe and Winston
In the past few years, we have been battered by increasingly adverse weather in the form of flooding and of course, tropical cyclones. While cyclones like Gavin and Bebe have caused destruction in the past, there is only one in recent memory that truly ravaged the land - Tropical Cyclone Winston.
For many, the trauma is still fresh. With three billion dollars in damage, the most intense tropical cyclone in the Southern hemisphere struck a blow to the Fijian economy, wiping out a third of our GDP overnight.
This is an impact that many Fijians are still trying to recover from. Many livelihoods were destroyed in the storm’s aftermath and it has left an ugly scar on the collective psyche of our beautiful nation. This should never be allowed to happen again.
Scientists are now saying that cyclones like Winston will occur with more frequency and intensity. This is why it is of utmost importance that we have the capacity to ensure that no matter the damage we bear, our country has the support it needs to always forge ahead. This is the purpose of the Climate Change Bill. Climate Change Bill 2019 aims to provide a comprehensive framework that will guide Fiji’s response to climate change. While the Fijian administration has been doing their utmost in the fight against climate change, some Fijians have been lukewarm or apathetic in their response to the natural disasters we have suffered after all, we are a small nation: How can we fight the forces of nature? Fijians are known for faith, and we are far from helpless.
The Bill is designed to be a revolutionary Act in the field of Climate Change; an example for the world to use in this increasingly crucial field, while still catering to the fact that Fiji is a small island nation. Climate Change is unpredictable, and to mirror this and allow us to adapt rapidly, the Bill is not set in its finality - like other Acts, it doubles as a framework and can be expanded upon as time passes according to the changes we will face in the future.
International Relations
Another vastly important part of this is International Relations. Climate change affects all of us, not just Fiji. The Bill recognises this and has ensured that it allows other countries to contribute and help our nation.
And this goes both ways - the Act maintains its goal of being a shining example and a guideline for all other countries to freely draw upon to help battle a potentially existential threat to humanity.
Each part of the Bill has a unique purpose, but they are all similar in the sense that they have a single collective goal- battling the effects of Climate Change.
Part 2 of the Bill declares that Fiji, the Pacific region and the earth are facing a climate emergency that requires a rapid and ambitious transformation towards a net-zero emissions global economy.
Part 4 of the Bill sets out the governance of Fiji’s national response to climate change, led by the minister responsible for climate change, the Head of Division, the National Climate Change Coordination Committee and the Cabinet Committee on Climate and Disaster Risk.
Part 8 of the Bill establishes an online, publicly accessible information platform that will contain all policies, reports, research, statements of Fiji’s greenhouse gas emissions, carbon budgets, integrated risk scenarios and national climate change projections.
Parts six, nine, 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Bill mandate the development and review of key policy documents such as the National Climate Change Policy, the Low Emissions Development Strategy and the National Adaptation Plan, to name a few.
There are a total of 17 Parts within the Climate Change Bill 2019 thus far; covering the many possibilities of climate change and ensuring we are ready for whatever comes next.
This Bill will be a huge step in the right direction for Fiji, allowing us not only to better prepare for the effects of climate change but to protect ourselves from its consequences. Applying Martin Luther King’s words to the context of our world’s communities; “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.”
We are a small country with limited resources, but we have the power to change things not only for ourselves, but to set an example for every single country of the world is facing up to this very real threat.
This is a critical juncture in Fijian history.
The decisions and choices we make towards climate change will resonate down the line to our upcoming generations and affect their lives in a real and tangible manner.
This is an opportunity for all Fijians to participate.
This is where you can step in and be a valuable part of Fijian history.
For this particular consultation, the Fijian Government has made it easier than ever before for Fijians to be a part of its policymaking processing.
You can give submissions directly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, their website through an online form, by post and email. There is simply no excuse for not reading the Bill and giving input and suggestions!
Share your ideas on bit.ly/climatebillspeak during this consultation PErIOD AND BE PArt OF tHE fiGHt tO save our people!