Rence Sore Permanent Secretary Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology said the Prime Minister was in Port Vila, Vanuatu for the High Level Regional Conference on Friday for the Joint Pacific-European Union Initiative on Climate Change.
“The conference is to provide political guidance to launch the implementation of the Joint Pacific-EU Initiative on climate change, Mr Sore said.
The Prime Minister with the European Commission signed a programme of around $2.8m ($30m) Euro as general budget support that will contribute to building resilience and adapt to the effects of climate change on the economy and the society of Solomon Islands.
Mr Sore said the conference is important for Solomon Islands together with other Pacific Islands because climate change is crucial development obstacle especially for developing countries through the observation of rise in sea level and ocean temperature.
“These changes can be observed in the intensity of cyclones from category 1 to 4/5, unpredictable rainfall patterns, extreme weather patterns such as storms and floods.
“For the Pacific Islands these changes cause alterations especially on our shorelines and land that impact on our social and economic lifestyles,” he said.
Mr Phillip in his intervention statement during conference said that “EU supporting Solomon Islands on our Climate Change Adaptation Programme and Disaster Risk Reduction under EDF9 through general budget support comes to us on the bedrock of our reform and mainstreaming programme”.
“The SIG-EU partnership is a good example that could be replicated by other countries in the region and a good example that could be adopted by other donors (multilateral and bilateral) in the region”.
Hon. Danny Philip also highlighted the Melanesian issue of land ownership which is a vulnerable factor to climate change.
“Learning from other Pacific countries like Vanuatu on how they mitigate land issues may help address this issue in Solomon Islands. This is because of the diverse characteristic of Solomon Islands.”
The PM also acknowledged and thanked the Pacific Island nations for their continuous assistance through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).
“Through RAMSI Solomon Islands is able to undertake structural and public management reform,” he said.
The high level conference was preceded by 3 day training workshop which saw delegates from the region and crop agencies to access tools on mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation into Government policies and development planning process.
Solomon Island delegates from Ministry of Finance and National Disaster Management Council were part of the panellists who lead the discussions on the policy dialogue on aid effectiveness and aligning DRR and CCA.
The outcomes of training were put before the leaders during the high level conference.
The PM while in Vanuatu also met with Solomon Islands students studying at the University of the South Pacific at the Emalus compus in Port Vila.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister for Development Planning and Aid Coordination Snyder Rini, the Minister for Environment Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM), John Moffat Fugui, Secretary to Prime Minister Jerry Manele and Permanent Secretary for Environment.
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