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Pre-cop23 Nadi UN: Make Climate Fund Accessible

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed has highlighted the difficulties small island states face in accessing the Green Climate Fund. And, she is hopeful that COP23 in Bonn,
18 Oct 2017 11:50
Pre-cop23 Nadi UN: Make Climate Fund Accessible
United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed (left), with Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama in Denarau, Nadi, on October 17, 2017. Photo: DEPTFO News

The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed has highlighted the difficulties small island states face in accessing the Green Climate Fund.

And, she is hopeful that COP23 in Bonn, Germany, will finalise the manner in which the Adaptation Fund will serve the Paris Agreement

“The Green Climate Fund has become operational but its delivery is less than ideal. It should not only expedite its process of the delivery of much-needed finance but also enable the smallest members to easily access resources.

“Climate Investment Funds at the World Bank must be replenished, and their scope deepened.”

Ms Mohammed is in the country attending the pre-COP event currently underway on Denarau Island in Nadi.

While opening day two of the event, Ms Mohammed paid tribute to the timeliness of a Pacific Presidency of the Conference of Parties and to the leadership displayed by incoming President Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

“Small Islands are among the first and worst affected by the climate peril. Their vulnerability to recurrent, more frequent and more intense extreme weather events has continued to mount,” she said.

“It was the collective advocacy and ambition of the small islands that helped to drive the ambition of the Paris Agreement and its swift ratification,  and is continuing to push us towards keeping global temperature rise as close to 1.5 degrees as possible.”

She said the extreme weather events show in graphic detail the risks we all face if ambition, action and commitment are not raised to meet the challenges of climate change.

“They highlight the urgency of building resilience, investing in adaptation and bending the emissions curve by 2020.”

Ms Mohammed highlighted what this meant for various stakeholders.

For the United Nations, these events also underline the need to press forward.

For governments, climate disasters underscore the need to implement and expand national climate action plans as an integrated component of national development strategies, and to mobilize and better target domestic resources toward climate-resilient development objectives.

For richer governments, they emphasize the obligation to provide the financial and technological support that less wealthy countries need to meet their climate goals.

For the finance and investment community, they underscore the urgency of ensuring both, innovation in financial rules as well as increasing the pace of financial flows into sustainable investments.

For businesses, cities, states and regions, extreme weather events are highlighting the imperative to align their plans and actions with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.

For all citizens, the challenges of climate change and sustainable development compel us to make better choices and demand greener policies, goods, services and lifestyles.

“As we look towards Bonn and beyond, this pre-COP is a crucial planning opportunity. Besides the guidelines, the COP should agree on a package of modalities to convene Facilitative Dialogue aimed at assessing and ramping up ambition.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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