Developed countries should "have a moral obligation to do more" for those at the front line of Climate Change, Tonga's Parliamentary Speaker, Lord Fakafanua said in New York, at a meeting he co-hosted.

At the Accelerator Actions and Innovatives Financing meeting on 19 September in New York, Lord Fakafanua talked about Climate Change and how it is affecting Tonga.

Hea said that there are insurmountable challenges and that no country can address or redress these challenges alone.

Developed countries who benefited economically from the previous industrial revolutions such as burning coals, gas and oil, he said, should “have a moral obligation to do more" for the those at the front line of climate change, such as vulnerable Small Island states.

Tonga  is ranked as the third most vulnerable nation to crisis and disaster, according to the World Risk Report 2021.

The Speaker co-hosted the meeting with the Governments of Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria.

He said that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted eight years ago today and each member state was at an important crossroads with only seven years remaining until the year 2030.

“We have no shortage of ambition, especially in the developing South – sometimes the solutions are just common sense, but we only need to take time to realize and bring them into action,” he said.

Copenhagen Consensus Center

Lord Fakafanua is working with the Copenhagen Consensus Center ‘think tank’ in conducting a cost benefit study in Tonga to assess government interventions that yield best value for money.

"It is a step towards stretching our limited resources to achieve the SDGs by being smarter," said the Speaker.