DEAR EDITOR, on a day when an international report says rapid, far reaching and unprecedented changes are needed in all aspects of society to limit global warming, we are told that climate aid money is not reaching the most vulnerable in the Pacific.

Quoting from today’s Radio New Zealand’s news bulletin, 8 October 2018.

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said limiting warming to 1.5 degrees compared to 2 degrees is necessary to ensure a more sustainable and equitable society.

“The report provides key scientific evidence ahead of the December climate change conference in Poland, when governments review the Paris Agreement to tackle climate change.

“It said every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5 degrees or higher increases the risks of long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of some ecosystems.

“The lower limit would reduce sea level rise by 10 centimetres by the end of the century, the Arctic Ocean would be free of sea ice in summer just once a century instead of once a decade, and coral reefs would decline by around 70 percent rather than be completely lost.

“It says “rapid and far-reaching” transitions are required and CO2 emissions will need to fall by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030.

“The report is clear that avoiding a warmer future above 1.5 degrees will bring significant benefits for millions of people who will face significantly reduced risks of flooding, food insecurity and climate stress, including Pacific communities,” said Associate Professor Bronwyn Hayward from Canterbury University, one of the report’s authors.

“The world is already seeing the consequences of 1 degrees of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, the report said.

“The IPCC noted good news in that some of the kinds of actions needed to limit global warming to 1.5ºC were already underway, but they did need to accelerate, with current decisions vital to ensuring a safe and sustainable world.”

Copyright @ 2018, Radio New Zealand.

Meanwhile, also quoting from Radio New Zealand, we learn that around the world money is being poured into helping vulnerable countries fight climate change.

But Caritas New Zealand director Julianne Hickey said finance was not getting beyond large institutions and government structures.

“We’ve heard time and time again from the Solomon Islands through to Tonga, to Papua New Guinea, that it is not reaching those who need it most and those who’ve done the least to cause the issues of climate change.”

Caritas Australia Pacific manager Stephanie Lalor said preparedness was where money was best spent.

“We know for every one dollar invested in mitigation, preparation activities at community level, we save ten dollars in the cost of actually then responding to the impact of a disaster.”

Sad to think, as many in the Pacific countries are saying, the people have become the victims of a problem others had caused.

DEAR EDITOR, quoting Radio New Zealand – 5 October 2018

“Climate change experts and Pacific Islands leaders say indigenous views must be included when it comes to creating regional policies on the issue.

“The importance of western and indigenous perspectives uniting when it comes to tackling climate change in the region was highlighted at a recent conference in Auckland.

“For all the lengthiness of its title, the “Climate Change and Conflict in the Pacific: Prevention, Management and the Enhancement of Community Resilience” workshop had a simple message: don’t forget about the Pacific.

“Despite being on the frontline of climate change impacts, Pacific Islanders’ own views on the issue are often absent from the current policy-making process.”

“Those claims are echoed by people like Reverend Dr Upolu Vaai from the Theological College in Fiji, who experiences the impact of climate change effects on the ground every day.

“The narrative, the climate change narrative has been dominated by either the scientific world view or perspective or the economic perspective where the indigenous perspective and indigenous world views are often excluded.”

“Building on the traditional wisdom and Pacific people’s understanding of their own environment is a challenge that Professor Kevin Clements, the Director of the Toda Peace Institute, said couldn’t be ignored.”

Copyright @ 2018, Radio New Zealand.

DEAR EDITOR, in contributing this piece I feel rather like one of Joab’s comforters but the threat we face from climate change, and especially in the Pacific, is a story that has to be told.

 My reference to Joab is because in the bible it is said three of Joab’s friends tried to make him feel better but only made things worse.

Joab answered his friends and said, “I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.” Job 16: 1-2 KJV.

Just a few days ago, Anoti Tong, the former President of Kiribati spoke about the growing threat of climate change to his nation.

He is widely reported to have said:

“Increasingly frequent king tides and storm surges, floods and longer droughts are new, unwelcome additions to our way of life on Kiribati.

“Sea level rise is turning our freshwater resources salty, rendering the land unable to grow staple crops such as coconut and taro, and eating away our shoreline.

“We are being told that we may have to abandon our islands, the places where our ancestors have been buried, where our children have a home and an identity.

“If this disastrous outcome comes to pass, my people will need a place of safety to move to. Rather than be regarded as “climate refugees” – a term that has no definition or status in the international legal system – I seek migration with dignity for my people.”

Quoting from an article in the US Miami Herald, Leonard Pitts Jr is quoted to have made a spectacular claim in a story he entitled, ‘We only have 10 years to save ourselves from climate change.”

In his lengthy piece, I will quote just one or two extracts.

“You see, something remarkable happened last week. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of scientists working under the aegis of the United Nations, issued a report on our planet’s health. Turns out its worse than we thought. Barring prompt — and politically unlikely — measures to drastically cut carbon output within the next decade, they say we’ll begin to see worsening droughts, wildfires, coral reef decimation, coastal flooding, food shortages and poverty beginning as soon as 2040.

“You can expect mass evacuations from the most heavily impacted areas. As one of the report’s authors, Aromar Revi, director of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, told The New York Times, “In some parts of the world, national borders will become irrelevant. You can set up a wall to try to contain 10,000 and 20,000 and 1 million people, but not 10 million.”

The commentary is necessarily subjective analysis, but Mr. Pitts seems to stand by it

 What is clear is the world is still lacking environmental leadership despite the forthright and best efforts of several Pacific Islands leaders in highlighting the very real dangers already evidenced by climate change.