Delivered by Desna Solofa, Deputy Secretary General -Governance at the Regional Consultation on the Draft Implementation Plan for the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility.
15 April 2025, PIF Secretariat, Suva, Fiji.
Excellencies and Senior Officials
Representatives of CROP agencies
Representatives of Development partners
Representatives of the Private Sector and CSOs
Ladies and gentlemen,
Talofa lava, bula vinaka and good morning to you all.
On behalf of the Secretary General, please allow me to welcome you all to your Secretariat and to this regional consultation on the draft implementation plan for the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility.
As you are all well aware, the Framework on Climate Mobility was endorsed at the 52nd Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting. Further, implementing the Framework is a priority Regional Collective Action for delivering the 2050 Strategy for Blue Pacific.
The latest Emissions Gap Report by the United Nations warns that current climate policies put the world on a trajectory toward more than 3°C of global warming. For the Pacific, such a level of warming would have devastating consequences for the habitability of our islands, forcing governments and communities to confront the harsh reality of climate-induced human mobility as a necessary adaptation measure. This is not a distant threat—several communities in our region are already being compelled to make these difficult decisions.
The Leaders’ endorsement of the Framework responds to the climate emergency our countries now face. And I am pleased to see the progress that has been made towards the development of an implementation plan.
At this point, please allow me to commend the efforts of the Joint Working Group on Climate Mobility (JWG) co-chaired by Tuvalu and Fiji who continue to lead and guide the development of the implementation plan. I also wish to acknowledge the technical partners from the Pacific Climate Change Mobility and Human Security programme, and their support in providing a draft implementation plan for your deliberations this week.
As you can see in the draft implementation plan, there are a lot of existing activities being implemented in the region, including by yourselves in your own countries. The draft plan also highlights other opportunities for working together to further strengthen and support action on climate mobility in line with the commitments made by Forum Leaders.
Noting this context, the Forum Sub-Committee on Regional Security met in March to consider the draft implementation plan and emphasised the need for a prioritised, simplified and practical implementation plan.
So, this is the challenge before you over the next two days, to advise what activities should be prioritised for action, and how best to deliver them. In order to succeed at this challenge, my advice is to put your country experiences at the centre of the deliberations and ask what do you need in order to take action on climate mobility? How can you best be supported? And, what can we do together to deliver on the Leaders’ commitments?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all the best for your discussions over the next two days and look forward to a successful outcome.
I thank you.
[ENDS]
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