Act now or pay later

Experts throughout the Pacific are urging all countries to sign up to and ratify the new Paris Agreement on climate change, or face up to the prospect of a climate that won’t be safe for humanity.

The call informs the Outcome Statement released by Victoria University of Wellington academics earlier this week that makes recommendations about how Pacific nations can combat the effects of climate change.

The Statement calls for other strong actions including establishing a universal price on carbon and increasing contributions from Pacific nations to international climate change reports and science research.

The Statement was authored by Victoria’s academics and Māori and other Pacific keynotes who were behind the University’s Pacific Climate Change Conference in February. The Statement is based on the feedback of the conference, which brought together over 250 professionals in climate change science, international law, indigenous rights, advocacy, politics, civil society, sustainable development and the media.

Co-author and climate change scientist Professor James Renwick says the Statement captures “the unprecedented roar of voices heard at the conference of people frustrated that the current pace of change isn’t enough to address or resolve the problems we’re facing in the Pacific”.

He says the Statement reflects the urgent need to act now.

“We’re already seeing a steady rise in sea-levels, ocean acidification and increasing intensity of extreme weather events, with an alarming outlook for future change. If we don’t make serious efforts now, the outcome could be catastrophic for people of the Pacific, and that includes New Zealand.”

He says delaying action would have “extraordinary costs”, economically, ecologically and socially.

“Inaction will cause the increasing destruction of habitats, ecosystems and our communities. The costs of mitigation and adaptation will only accelerate the longer we delay mitigation responses.

“Unfortunately, the Pacific carries the burden of being on the frontline of climate change, despite its negligible contribution to the problem. This Outcome Statement however, acknowledges the need for immediate action, for the very survival of humanity and the environment as we know it.”

The Outcome Statement:

  • declares Pacific people must lead the way in all action within the region,
  • encourages Pacific countries to develop and submit their Adaptation Communications and their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (for greenhouse gas emissions reductions),
  • recognises the urgent need to facilitate the provision of finance, technology and capacity-building support by developed countries for more effective pre-2020 action by Pacific nations,
  • urges the New Zealand government to show moral leadership, and accept the challenge to support and enable Pacific leadership, including a moratorium on fossil fuel extraction within the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone, ceasing the use of fossil fuels for generating electricity, and facilitating a shift to renewable energy systems.

The Outcome Statement from the Pacific Climate Change Conference is available online.