PERMANENT SECRETARY OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER YOGESH KARAN'S SPEECH AT THE WARSAW INTERNATIONAL MECHANISM FOR LOSS AND DAMAGE (WIM) ANNIVERSARY EVENT

The President of COP 24, Hon. Minister Kurtyka
Excellencies 
Invited Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen 

Bula Vinaka and good evening to you all.

Firstly, I would like to thank the COP24 Presidency and the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for loss and damage (WIM) for extending the invitation to the Fijian Government, as COP23 President, to participate in this important event. 

I am extremely honoured to be here on behalf of our Prime Minister of Fiji, Hon. Frank Bainimarama - our COP23 President, to join you all in the five- year celebrations of the WIM. 

Ladies & Gentlemen, at the outset, our delegation fully welcomes the Executive Committee Report of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage associated with Climate Change Impacts and its draft decisions. It is critical to the future sustainable development of our island states and all vulnerable countries, communities and people across the globe. It has certainly paved a clear path into our collaborative engagements with all Parties to effectively address and tackle L&D in the climate change space.

Loss and damage has been a critical pillar of the UNFCCC negotiations, particularly for all countries that are recognised by the Convention, as vulnerable to the “adverse impacts” climate change. Such recognition of our vulnerabilities is reaffirmed in Article 2(1)(a) of the Paris Agreement on the adoption of the Long Term Temperature Goal (LTTG) of holding the increase in the global average of temperature well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. These efforts or our collective ambition is to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of Climate change and in turn effectively reduce loss and damage. 

This 5-year anniversary of the WIM is particularly meaningful to Fiji. The Fijian Government, while serving as the Chair of the G77 + China at COP19 in 2013, were inspired with hope, endured with faith, and worked hard with all Parties for a consensus on the Warsaw International Mechanism – a process that we all laboured together through late night to early hours of negotiations during COP19 and some of you- current members of the ExCom, if not all present here, know fully well what I am talking about here. 

Ladies & Gentlemen, the incremental steps we are taking since COP19 is gaining momentum and let us continue to track and support the work of the ExCom going forward from here. 

In 2015, with the inclusion of Article 8 of the Paris Agreement, loss and damage became firmly entrenched in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Earlier this year, under the COP23 Presidency, the WIM ExCom organized the Suva Expert Dialogue that was instrumental in pushing the conversation on loss and damage, particularly on approaches, associated finance needs, and sources of support. The Suva Expert Dialogue provided some solid inputs in documentation of real, tangible, current and anticipated needs and challenges in addressing loss and damage, particularly it marked the next step in addressing the key question of how to mobilize adequate support for developing countries.

Ladies and gentlemen, Fiji is fully supporting the work of the ExCom due to many reasons that bind us all together. Earlier this year, our people back home experienced climate extremes in the form of numerous flooding. In fact, our people are constantly under siege from rising seas and changing weather patterns. And we’ve all seen first-hand the devastation wrought by the stronger cyclones hitting our country year after year with its rising intensity and increasing periodicity. It is estimated that around 150,000 Fijians have been impacted by storms in 2018 alone.

Given Fiji’s and all our collective experiences, I cannot emphasize even more the pronounced importance of the text on loss and damage to be included in the Paris Agreement Rulebook as this will give assurance to developing countries that they will not be left alone to deal with loss and damage. I also understand that the WIM will undergo a review next year and I am positive that our future directions becomes even clearer.

Lastly, let me reaffirm Fiji’s leadership role in the climate struggle, particularly through the Talanoa Dialogue, an innovation introduced by Fiji’s Presidency to promote dialogues and collaborations on climate issues. I do note that these have been taking place all over the world and there are Ministerial roundtables taking place this week. The Talanoa concept of inclusiveness and respectiveful engagement to raise ambition has captured the imagination of the whole world and its certainly a wonderful legacy of the Fijian Presidency. 

So with those words, ladies and gentlemen, I have the great pleasure to welcome you all this evening to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Warsaw International Mechanism. 

Vinaka vakalevu. Dziękuję. Thank you!