• Dr Joanna Newman, Chief Executive & Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities
• Representatives from the West Indies (UWI)
• Representatives from the UK, New Zealand, Australia, India
• The Vice Chancellor of Fiji National University
• The Deans of the Colleges at Fiji National University
• Representatives from Fiji National University
• Representatives from The University of the South Pacific
• The Pacific Community (SPC)
• Representatives from the local Ministries
• Representatives from Fiji Higher Education Commission (FHEC)

Bula Vinaka and a very good morning to you all!

A very special welcome to the Representatives from the Association of Commonwealth of Universities (ACU) office in London, and the representatives from the University of the West Indies. 

2.0 Introduction

I acknowledge the global significance of Climate Change and on-going efforts at mitigation.

I congratulate the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Fiji National University, The University of the South Pacific and The University of the West Indies for taking the initiative to form the Commonwealth Climate Resilience Network for collaborative work.

Note the origins of the network in the deliberations of the Commonwealth Education Conference hosted by Fiji in April, 2018.

3.0 Purpose of Workshop

I understand that this workshop is formulated to discuss and shape the focus of the proposed network, what its functions would be, and how they would contribute to its operationalisation.

4.0 Substantive Issues

All of us here recognise the challenges posed by climate change. -- include impact on, for example, health, infrastructure, human settlements and food systems.

In some circumstances the challenge will involve moving and relocation of communities and the potential for conflict with security implications. 

The Global response to climate change has been pervasive and articulated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) through the Paris Agreement, 2016 and the Convention of Parties (COPs). 

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

Additionally, the agreement aims to increase the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, and at making finance flows consistent with a low GHG emissions and climate-resilient pathway

Pacific Threat

• For small islands, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report projects a medium risk of “loss of livelihoods, coastal settlements, infrastructure, ecosystem services and economic stability,” in the near term (2030 - 2040), and a very high risk in the long term (2080 - 2100). 
• More generally, it projects “reduced biodiversity, fisheries abundance and coastal protection by coral reefs,” and “coastal inundation and habitat loss due to sea level rise, extreme events, changes in precipitation, and reduce[d] ecological resilience,” with high risk in the near term and very high risk in the long term.
• Major climate-related security concerns for the Pacific Islands include: 
• access to fresh water (due to changes in rainfall patterns and salt water intrusion); 
• local food supply (damage to coral reefs, declining fisheries, and impacts on agriculture); 
• and infrastructure damage (through rising sea levels, other flooding, band storm damage). 
• Potential second-order consequences include economic loss from these events, declining revenues from tourism, and emigration to escape the situation especially from atoll islands subject to inundation from sea level rise. 
• For some Island nations consisting entirely of low-lying atolls, including Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, rising sea levels comprise an existential threat.
• These anticipated climate change impacts interact with other global trends, such as population growth, water and air pollution, and increasing demands for natural resources, such as tuna, from developing nations. 
• With real chances of some nations becoming ‘climate refugees’ forced out of ancestral lands. For example, our Neighbours Kiribati, Tuvalu.
• In Kiribati, the government has purchased land on Fiji to ensure it has food security as its arable land comes under threat from climate change. Fiji has promised to relocate Kiribati residents if their country becomes submerge
• In Fiji, villages need to move due to climate change. Tropical cyclones are predicted to increase in intensity in the region. In February 2016, Fiji was struck by the most powerful tropical cyclone to ever hit the country. Cyclone Winston killed 44 Fijians and caused more than $1bn worth of damage.
• With nearly one-third of all Fijians currently living in areas prone to these environmental disasters, the government announced last November that 43 villages would need to move to higher ground. 
• Recent National Consultation on relocation. 
• An Integrated Vulnerability Assessment (IVA) and community relocation consultations was carried out in each of the 14 villages on Koro Island from the 8th to the 17th of June, 2016.
• The assessment was initiated upon a request by the Fiji Climate Change Division (CCD) to the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD) to inform government on how to support 13 villages on Koro Island, relocate or retreat inland to a safer place of settlement following TC Winston. 
• Adopting a holistic and integrated approach to community relocation, the overall aim of the IVA was to assess community resilience of villages on Koro Island to climate change and natural disasters. 
• This threat will continue and perhaps for many centuries to come as the effects of climate change combined with the El Nino events and other known natural occurrences such as hurricanes to produce adverse effects. 

o These effects would include climate sensitive diseases that are related to child mortality such as malaria, diarrhoea, measles, respiratory illness and malnutrition. 
o We already grappling with sea level rise and its effects on fertile agricultural land. The additional threat of climate change will undermine development gains and thwart efforts at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. 
o In small island states and developing countries, where tourism is a major ‎economic activity, any ‎significant reduction in tourist arrivals will have ‎serious employment impacts and generate ‎further poverty.

• The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) of the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) represents one of the regional efforts in addressing the critical issues of adaptation and mitigation. 

o Since it began in 2009 the Programme has been laying the groundwork for more resilient Pacific communities that are better able to cope with climate variability today and climate change tomorrow. 
o The overall goal of the programme is to reduce vulnerability and to increase adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change in the key development sectors identified by participating countries, namely coastal zone management, food security and food production, and water resources management

5.0 Fiji’s Response

Fiji’s response has not only been about Fiji and the Pacific, but about the world as a whole.

This is seen in Fiji’s Presidency of COP23. The strident and emphatic call for action by our Prime Minister with full support from all sectors of the country. 
• Organizations such as Energy Fiji Limited, is continuing to grow its renewable energy portfolio, investing in hydro dams and in the near future in large scale solar farms. 
• Manufacturers and tourism operators are installing solar rooftop panels. For example, the Coca-Cola factory now operates a 1.1 Mega Watt solar rooftop system; the largest privately-funded solar grid in the South Pacific. 
• Also companies such as Mark One apparel, the Denarau Marina and the Radisson Blu Resort on Denarau Island, lead the charge among private sector operators in lowering their own emissions. 
• Another great example of private sector investment is the development of the Nabou Biomass Power Plant outside Sigatoka that uses biomass for clean energy generation.
• Fiji has remained strident in its call for global action especially as the Pacific stands to bear the brunt of climate related disasters.

The recent national consultation on the ‘National Adaptation Plan’ underscores this effort. 

The key aspect of the plan is to make climate change a ‘whole of government’ business with a call to all sectors to mainstream climate change adaptation. 

6.0 Note and acknowledge initiatives at USP and FNU

I want to acknowledge at this stage the good work being done at USP and FNU on the area of climate change.

I urge you to maintain this and to strengthen this.

I need to emphasize also the need to develop disaster Management strategies for both Universities and to assist communities.

Both Universities would need to engage with all sectors and especially communities.

7.0 Concluding

I wish the participants and conference facilitators well for the remaining day of the conference.

Vinaka vaka levu, Dhayavaad, Thank you