Three weeks out from the official opening of the 2023 Pacific Games in Solomon Islands, the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) officially launched the 2023 Pacific Games Village greening initiative at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) and St Joseph’s Tenaru School on 2 November 2023.
The PCCC, hosted at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is collaborating with the Solomon Islands Government through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) for the Greening of the Pacific Games 2023. Whilst the targeted support is focused on the Games, the longer-term vision is to contribute towards a greener and more resilient Honiara city.
A tree planting ceremony was conducted at SINU, attended by the Manager of PCCC, Ms ‘Ofa Kaisamy, SINU Vice Chancellor, Professor Transform Aquorau, and the Deputy Director of Climate Change, Mr Henry Tufa. It was also attended by officials of the Games’ partners and stakeholders.
Ms Kaisamy emphasised that the support is a catalyst to drive the interventions that will result in transformative impacts over the long term and contribute to building climate change resilience.
“The PCCC commitment is part of its key functions to drive innovative solutions to climate change,” said Ms Kaisamy. “In this particular instance, the broader targeted greening activities will be tied to carbon offsetting for the Games and multiple other benefits from reducing heat levels and climate resilience in general.”
SINU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Transform Aqorau emphasised the commitment by SINU and stressed the essential role that trees play in maintaining clean air and a healthy environment, which is crucial for the well-being of people. He reflected on his own experience growing up in Honiara when the town was still adorned with lush greenery and lamented the loss of the city's natural beauty.
"I grew up in Honiara, right in the middle of the town at Pt Cruz and Honiara used to be beautiful, covered with green trees from King George down to White River,” he said
“We have lost that beauty, and I feel sorry for the younger generation today because you are not able to live and experience what Honiara used to be like. Therefore, I'd like to ensure that SINU is an environment where we will plant more trees here to create a shady environment where families, students, and staff can study and sit under a beautiful canopy.”
The official handover of a nursery and tree planting tools was then held at St Joseph’s Tenaru High School, by Ms Kaisamy and the Permanent Secretary MECDM, Dr Melchior Mataki. This was followed by the planting of the first trees in the Games Village.
Dr Mataki stated that this initiative is not only about greening the Games, but is an ongoing effort by his Ministry through the Climate Change Division to promote building climate resilience through tree planting as a long-term nature-based solution to climate change.
He made emphasis and reflected on the importance of driving the initiative through schools where young people and children can participate and appreciate such activities as they are the future of the country. He further thanked the PCCC and SPREP for stepping up to support Solomon Islands and using the greening of the games as platform to drive action and implement practical solutions on climate change.
PCCC’s collaboration with MECDM for the greening activities for SINU and St Joseph Tenaru School games village will result in support provided to the St Joseph’s Tenaru nursery for 3000-5000 plants for the carbon-offsetting activities by students, Pacific Games athletes and officials at Tenaru games village and Honiara city and at least 500-1000 trees transplanted for the SINU green games village and implementation tree planting activities for targeted sites with the Honiara.
The PCCC’s support to the Greening of the Games is part of SPREP’s overall contribution to the Government of Solomon Islands for this initiative, which includes an investment of approximately SBD 4.8 million, made possible through the Australian Government funded Pacific Ocean litter Project (POLP), the Pacific Climate Change Centre, Agence Française de Développement funded Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific (SWAP) Project, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) ISLANDS Pacific Project, the Pacific – European Union (EU) Waste Management Programme (PacWastePlus), the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) Early Warning System Pacific Small Islands Developing States (CREWS Pacific SIDS) project.
The PCCC since its establishment in 2019 has been supporting Pacific Island countries and territories through its four key functions on capacity building, science to services, knowledge brokerage and innovation to catalyse action and invent meaningful solutions to climate change. The support provided for greening of the Pacific games is made possible through the PCCC collaboration and support from the Australian Government through the department of foreign affairs and trade (DFAT).
