Nazhat Shameem Khan calls for more Pacific voices at COP23
Our team has already encouraged members of the Pacific media to be in Bonn because this is an important COP for the Pacific and really having heard the call I think members of the Pacific media should try to be there. It would be encouraging not only to see representation at the COP but to see members of the Pacific media at COP and covering both aspects of the agenda, the Bula Zone with the negotiations and the Bonn Zone with the action agenda. Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan COP23 Fijian Negotiator
Conference of Parties 23 (COP23) Negotiator has called for more Pacific voices at the climate change summit in Bonn in November.
Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan said there should be more participation from Pacific Island Countries.
Mrs Khan said it was an important aspect of COP23 to ensure that the Fijian presidency had an adequate voice in Bonn.
And while it could be challenging for Pacific Islanders to go that far to Bonn, Mrs Khan said there were a number of processes they could access.
She encouraged Pacific Island women to participate. “There are fully-funded programmes for Pacific women to attend the negotiations, activities and side events at Bonn,” Mrs Khan said.
Mrs Khan said consultations were being held with the Pacific nations to ensure that they were also heard and represented.
Recently, the Climate Action Pacific Partnership (CAPP) meeting was held in Fiji for the same reason. “Moreover the pre-COP meeting would be held in October in Nadi to help the Presidency fine tune the case from Pacific Island countries,” she said.
Expectations
Mrs Khan said the major expectations from the islanders included progress in the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement. “And they expect to have a design launched of the facilitative dialogue,” she said.
She said they were quite confident that they would show a design for the world.
She said the parties were also hoping for outcomes from the Unite Nations Ocean Conference in New York.
“So we are working on the possibility of that to see and how that can be done.”
Mrs Khan has urged the participation of members of the Pacific media in Bonn.
Media encouraged
“Our team has already encouraged members of the Pacific media to be in Bonn because this is an important COP for the Pacific and really having heard the call I think members of the Pacific media should try to be there,” Mrs Khan said.
“It would be encouraging not only to see representation at the COP but to see members of the Pacific media at COP and covering both aspects of the agenda, the Bula Zone with the negotiations and the Bonn Zone with the action agenda.” She added that there had been an enormous mindset change around the world and part of that mindset was the important role of the media in translating what people did to what people knew.
“That in turn changes the people’s attitudes,” she said.