Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change are calling upon world leaders to make the right decisions for our survival at COP27. The Twenty-Seventh Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27) is now underway in Sharm el-Sheikh Egypt, from 6 to 18 November. Over 55,000 people are gathering to bring us all closer to achieving the Paris Agreement commitment of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or lower.
Amongst these delegates are those carrying the hope and promise of a better future for our Pacific Islands, ten members of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) association. Accredited with the national delegations of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the students are experiencing their very first COP to build their professional capacity and to help amplify our One Pacific voice.
One of their very first side event activities will take place on 8 November in the Children and Youth Pavilion at COP27. It is here that they will provide a youth perspective on how international legal tools can achieve climate and ecological justice.
While the high-level segment of the COP27 is underway, the PISFCC are asking our world leaders to do more, take more action and align their governments with the theme of the COP27 – “Together for implementation.”
“I think mostly everyone looks for action more than talking. We would like to see action. We are now at COP27, and we are still nowhere near we want to be. More action would be good,” Ms Cynthia Houniuhi of Solomon Islands, the President of PISFCC.
"I would like leaders to come up with robust actions towards climate change and as well as everything around that - the environment, adaptation, mitigation and 1.5 - I would like them to take action to make the Paris Agreement come to life. Support the ICJAO,” believes Mr Rodrick Rollands of Solomon Islands, a member of the PISFCC now in Sharm el-Sheikh to be heard at COP27.
The PISFCC are campaigning to refer the adverse effects of climate change to the International Court of Justice by seeking an Advisory Opinion from the court on the issue of climate change and human rights. The Government of Vanuatu is campaigning for the UN General Assembly to pass a resolution requesting that the International Court of Justice seek an Advisory Opinion.
"Take the threat of climate change seriously, more seriously than you are right now because the future is in your hands and we’re all going to watch you and the choices that you make," said Mr Jeffrey Wells of Vanuatu, also a member of the PISFCC as he called upon world leaders to do more.
He was supported by Ms Popua Aho of Tonga who is also in Sharm el-Sheikh at COP27: "Take action! There is a lot of talk at these meetings, but we want more results. Listen to us, hear the Pacific Islands, we are going through climate change right now."
The ten members of PISFCC attending COP27 are supporting Pacific delegations, they are being given the opportunity to shadow negotiators to build their experience in the UNFCCC process.
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27) is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for their survival. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is lead of the One CROP, working together to provide support to Pacific Islands.
