BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO
MINISTRY of Environment Climate Change Disaster Management is reviewing a new climate change policy, hoped to be endorsed at the third quarter of this year.
This was confirmed by Karl Kuper of MECDM during the recent visit of the visiting Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs for New Zealand Carmel Sepuloni.
“MECDM is currently carrying out review of a new climate change policy and we hope to have it endorsed by Cabinet by the third quarter of 2023,” Kuper said.
He said there is a strong focus on adaptation as well as on mitigation based on it being supportive in improving the adaptive capacity of people and businesses.
“Our top adaptation priority is to relocate our people who have lost their islands and homes, and on low-lying atolls and artificial islands.
“Our Nationally Determined Contribution sets our targets in terms of mitigation but I wish to state that our efforts to mitigate climate change are already ambitious because our emissions are surpassed by more than 30 times by removals through our forests,” Kuper said.
In addition, he said Solomon Islands emissions are less than 0.1percent of global emissions.
“Nevertheless, we are also developing a Low emission development strategy with the aim of further decarbonizing our economy through renewable energy development and displacement of fossil fuel in key sectors such transportation. These efforts need financial resources and technology transfer and these are captured as well in our draft climate change policy,” Kuper said.
