Small Islands, Small Countries, Big Hearts
By Gillian Cook
17 December, 2009
New Matilda Blog
A giant inflatable globe in the middle of the conference centre which is positioned at the crossroads to the plenary rooms, food outlets and delegation offices has proved to be a popular place for official photographs. Australian Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong posed there for media late last week. Embarrassingly, this prominent globe is missing many of the Pacific islands from its map.
It could be argued that in order to maintain the correct geographical proportions, these countries are just too small to warrant a spot, but in the context of negotiations where these states are gravely concerned for their future existence in the world, it is a grim prediction for the shape of our globe if an ambitious deal is not agreed upon in the next week.
These small pacific island states are some of the least developed countries in the world and they are among the most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. They have diverse cultures but are geographically remote. Their contributions to green house gas emission are almost negligible yet the impacts of climate change are already challenging their ability to develop sustainability and with integrity of culture, livelihood and ecosystems.
Despite these challenges, small island states are not standing down from climate change negotiations without a fight.
Small island countries like Solomon Islands are wearing their heart on their sleeves during these negotiations.
“You are a small country, small islands, but you have a big heart,” said Michael Zammit Cutajar, Chair of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Long term Cooperative Action, to the Solomon Islands delegation in response to emotional interventions made by them during the opening plenary session of the Conference last week.
Mr Rence Sore, Permanent Secretary of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Meteorology gave a passionate speech outlining that failure is not an option in Copenhagen because this conference is the culmination of two years of negotiations centred on their very survival.
He said that negotiators have had enough time to come and agree on a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement.
“We know that the world is watching,” Mr Sore said.
“Can we be champions of the survival of humanity on planet earth?”
“We often say in climate change negotiations that it is the livelihoods of the most vulnerable that we are negotiating to protect. Should we fail with our negotiations, who would our children blame then? “
Seventeen year old Solomon Islander, Christina Ora made a moving speech on behalf of the global youth constituency. During the two weeks of the climate change conference, she has been working with the Solomon Islands Delegation and Project Survival Pacific, an initiative of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, to raise the voice of Pacific island countries.
In front of thousands of people, Ms Ora said that youth are mobilizing support from millions of people all over the world for the ambitious agreement that they deserve. She was born in 1992, the same year as the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“You have been negotiating all my life,” she said.
“You cannot tell us that you need more time. Please commit to these decisions now, because you hold our future in your hands, and survival is not negotiable.”
The chief negotiator for Tuvalu choked back tears in the plenary session on Saturday. There was hardly a dry eye in the room when young Pacific islanders presented a side event called Pacific Voices, passionately urging negotiators ensure a deal for the survival of their people through dance, photos and poems.
Thousands of people have flocked to the Bella Centre to be part of this historic conference. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has an agenda.
Is the message from small island states being listened to? Will their urgent pleas for their right to survival be acted upon?
The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the negotiating block which represents 43 countries, has put forward a proposal for a legally binding agreement with strong targets for emissions reductions which sees the strengthening of both the Kyoto Protocol and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in accordance with the Bali Action Plan.
Mr Sore says that Australia should be a leader for the Pacific region on climate change. But Australia is advocating for the stabilisation of green house gases at or below 450 parts per million and warming of two degrees or less and Pacific Island countries are adamant that this endangers their very survival.
Pacific island people love their islands, their culture and their way of life. Their land is integral to their identities, their inheritance systems and their subsistence lifestyles. They want their children and grandchildren to live in their ancestral lands.
As civil society entry into the Conference becomes progressively more restricted, some of the strongest supporters for the AOSIS targets of warming below 1.5 degrees and the stabilisation of carbon in the atmosphere at 350 parts per million, within the centre have been sidelined.
The small island states have challenged us to listen to their stories of how their populations are struggling to cope with the impacts of climate change.
They have challenged us to respect the rights of people worldwide to live a life with dignity.
They have challenged our leaders to take the brave path, to be bold and to do the right thing rather than the easy thing.
Throughout the week there has been an emphasis on compromise. But Pacific island states are telling us that we cannot compromise their survival.
While we wait to see what happens in high level negotiations over the next few days, what is clear is that people from these small islands states have touched the hearts of many at this conference. But will it be enough?
Gillian Cook is a volunteer in the Solomon Islands working on raising community awareness about climate change.
