LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, April 18, 2018 At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, UK Minister of State for Energy and Clean Growth Claire Perry has announced £1.2m (approximately F$3.5m) of further UK funding to support Pacific Island countries with the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), through the Regional Pacific NDC Hub that will be based in Suva, Fiji.
The UK funding announcement comes as part of the Commonwealth Summit’s focus on moving ‘Towards a Common Future’ that is fair, prosperous, sustainable and secure – and tackling climate change is vital to making a sustainable future a reality.
This funding builds on the £100k (F$277,150) that the United Kingdom provided in response to a call from Pacific Island states towards the development of the Hub in partnership with GIZ at COP23 in Bonn last November. The new funding will support the Hub’s objective of assisting Small Island Developing States to enhance and implement their NDCs under the Paris Agreement.
During her speech on accelerating climate action in the Commonwealth, Minister Perry said: “The UK is leading the world in tackling climate change while growing our national income, ensuring we are best placed to help other countries reduce harmful carbon emissions. Providing expertise to mitigate global warming and reducing emissions is a crucial priority for Commonwealth nations, and vulnerable Pacific Islands in particular.”
Helping build the resilience of small and vulnerable states to deal with the effects of climate change and other global crises is one of the main areas that Commonwealth leaders are discussing in London this week.
Prime Minister of Fiji and COP23 President Voreqe Bainimarama said: “Although Pacific island countries have done little to contribute to climate change, we are committed to leading the world in mitigating and adapting to its impacts. We welcome this additional support from the British Government for the NDC Regional Hub, which was launched under our Presidency at COP23 last year. The hub gives us a powerful new tool to develop innovative approaches for building resilience and protecting our development. As COP President, we are calling for greater global ambition and action in 2018 under the Talanoa Dialogue; this hub is one of the ways we are doing this in the Pacific.”
GIZ’s Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region Programme Director, Dr Wulf Killmann said: “We and our partners stand ready to support the countries to provide advisory and technical support to enhance and implement NDCs and integrate climate actions into development plans as well as to support the systematic review of their NDCs – if and as needed.”
During the COP 23 meeting in Bonn, Germany and on the anniversary of the NDC Partnership, Mr. Bainimarama, formally announced the establishment of the Hub.
After the UK Government’s initial contribution, this new commitment is timely given that Pacific representatives at the Regional Pacific NDC Dialogue held in Suva in March this year have called for long-term funding from development partners to continue their NDC review and implementation process.
The Australian Government also committed to providing funding (AUD 500,000; approximately F$787,390) to the Hub at COP23 and the German Government through BMZ (the Federal German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation) continues to provide funding.
The Hub is a multi-partner initiative and will be managed on behalf of the Pacific Island Countries by GIZ, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the NDC Partnership, the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat for the Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
The NDC Dialogue was facilitated in partnership with the Fijian COP 23 Presidency, the Fijian Government, GIZ, GGGI, the NDC Partnership, SPC, SPREP, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), funded by the UK Government, the Australian Government, the European Union, Norway, Germany and Belgium.
Editors note: The Chair’s summary of the NDC Dialogue can be found here https://bit.ly/2JQDHsL
For more information:
Lauren Babuik, Head of Climate Change and Regional Affairs, British High Commission, +679 322 9112
Josephine Prasad, Communications Officer, GIZ Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region, +679 9922098, [email protected]