On the eve of the 50th Pacific Islands Forum Meeting taking place in Tuvalu this week, the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland recognises the existential threat which climate change poses to Pacific Islanders. She calls on governments across the globe to urgently meet the terms of the Paris climate change agreement, if we are to save our Pacific Islands, as the rising sea levels could literally engulf thousands of islands in the region by 2100.
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Results for Climate change
Monday 12 August 2019
London, United Kingdom
Monday 5 August 2019
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Penisimani Po’uliva’ati Lepa, President of All Saints Anglican Youth in Fasi, was awarded the Commonwealth Point of Light Award, last Friday, 2 August, for supporting the local community during natural disasters.
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Thursday 1 August 2019
Nadi, Fiji
A ‘climate crisis’ has been declared by Pacific Island States, including Tonga, after signing the Nadi Bay Declaration earlier this week, calling on developed countries to urgently address climate change including phasing out coal mining and fossil fuel use and production.
Tuesday 25 June 2019
Potsdam, Germany
The leaders of the G20 countries head to Osaka this week for their annual summit. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will address them before traveling to Abu Dhabi to finalize the arrangements for September’s UN Climate Action Summit. These meetings should set the world on course for the fastest economic transition in history. Yet both are likely to deliver incremental action, at best. By Johan Rockström
Tuesday 11 June 2019
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
An exhibition explaining the science behind climate change and its effects was officially launched on 11 June at the Taufa’ahau Tupou IV Domestic Wharf. The exhibition was initiated by scientists working in Antarctica who felt the public needed to be informed about the impacts they were seeing caused by climate change.
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Friday 10 May 2019
Brussels, Belgium
Since the massive mobilization effort that preceded the 2009 Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen, the world has begun translating words and intentions into real action on climate change. European leadership – from government, civil society, and business – has played a pivotal role in driving progress. Given how much remains to be done, such leadership must continue – and become stronger.
Thursday 2 May 2019
Nadi, Fiji
A trust fund to boost climate change and disaster resilience in Small Island States (SIDS) was established by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Ireland on the opening day of the 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors on May 1, in Nadi, Fiji.
Thursday 2 May 2019
Stockholm, Sweden
The problem is staggering, even existential. Global emissions of greenhouse gases – especially carbon dioxide – are rapidly driving up global temperatures, transforming life as we know it. If those temperatures reach 2oC above pre-industrial levels, scientists warn, the results will be catastrophic. An international conference is called, under the auspices of the United Nations. Politicians declare that the world must curb CO2 emissions to avoid exceeding the 2oC threshold. And then nothing substantial happens. By Mats Persson.
Monday 8 April 2019
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A group of students from Cornell University, an Ivy League research university in Ithaca, New York, were in Nuku’alofa last week to look at the impact of climate change in Tonga as part of their workshop focusing on the Pacific.
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Friday 5 April 2019
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway said Tonga and Norway could tackle common global issues such as climate change through multilateral cooperation. “These are some of the major issues of our time and it's obvious we need to tackle them in a better way than we have,” he told Matangi Tonga. By Linny Folau
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Thursday 14 March 2019
Paris, France
On the Ides of March (March 15), the day by which ancient Romans were expected to settle their debts, young people in 60 countries around the world will stage a school walkout to press world leaders for more urgent action on climate change. It is a tragedy that younger generations are forced to speak out against the injustice they will suffer as a result of choices made by others; yet, at the same time, it is deeply reassuring to witness their power and passion as they try to change the course of history. By Éloi Laurent
Wednesday 13 March 2019
New York, USA
Climate change poses an unprecedented threat to humanity, one that appears increasingly likely to reduce global standards of living dramatically within our lifetime, and cause untold damage in the longer term. And, because addressing such a daunting planetary challenge requires radical approaches, there have been wide-ranging discussions about what the world must urgently do to limit the rise in global temperature to less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. By Ban Ki-moon.
Friday 28 December 2018
New York, USA
This month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland succeeded in producing a rulebook to implement the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Every UN member state signed on. But that will not be enough to head off climate catastrophe. It’s time to call in the engineers. When heads of state convene at the UN next September, the world’s leading engineers should greet them with a cutting-edge framework for global action. Energy transformation for climate safety is our twenty-first-century moonshot. By Jeffrey D. Sachs.
Thursday 20 December 2018
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Katowice, Poland
The Ocean is an integral part of our climate discussions and cannot be spoken about in isolation, stressed Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi at a high-level panel discussion event during COP24 in Katowice, Poland.
Monday 17 December 2018
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Katowice, Poland
Countries have agreed to a set of rules to implement the Paris Agreement in a bid to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as the UN climate negotiations came to an end on 15 December in Katowice, Poland.
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Thursday 13 December 2018
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The successful relocation of Tukuraki, a Fijian village in the highlands of Ba, Viti Levu, to a new site is a prime example of the future of climate resilience, a reality faced by communities vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters in the Pacific. Their new houses were built to withstand Category 5 cyclones and cost less then FJD$26,000 each with bathrooms. By Eleanor Gee.
Sunday 9 December 2018
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Katowice, Poland
Fiji will be launching its Low Emission Development Strategy in Katowice, Poland on December 13 during the 24th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Fiji’s Prime Minister, Hon Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama stated while their Presidency may have come to an end, Fiji is determined to be at the cutting edge of the fight against climate change.
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Thursday 6 December 2018
Geneva, Switzerland
Each year, some 700,000 people die from drug-resistant infections worldwide. But superbugs also pose a threat to the effectiveness of modern medicine; if left unaddressed, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could make more infections untreatable, cancer therapies ineffective, routine surgeries impossible, and even childbirth unsafe. By Seth Berkley and Jeremy Farrar
Tuesday 4 December 2018
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Katowice, Poland
Stating that we “are extremely concerned about the climate crisis” Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama issued a joint statement, together with three other former COP Presidents, last night calling on countries to send an unequivocal message from COP24 in Katowice, Poland, that they are serious about strengthening their commitments to reduce emissions and help build resilience.
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Tuesday 20 November 2018
Washington DC, USA
The Juliana v United States trial is about more than the environment; it will have far-reaching implications for intergenerational justice more broadly. Consider the issue of public debt. There have always been moral objections to one generation burdening the next with excessive debt, effectively limiting young people’s future liberty by impinging on their ability to form families, educate children, and create wealth. By Robert Dugger.
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