BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Collin Beck, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) National Committee co-chair, said that regional leadership is needed to address regional issues.
One of the issues Mr Beck raised that needs a coordinated regional leadership is the Treaty of Rarotonga, which formalises a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the South Pacific.
The treaty bans the use, testing, and possession of nuclear weapons within the borders of the South Pacific zone.
According to Beck, this is one of the issues that will be brought onto the table at this year’s 56th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting (PIFLM) set to take place in September in Honiara.
“Let me touch on some of the issues where, in terms of what we have politically and need in leadership. We have this Rarotonga Treaty,” he said during a radio talkback recently.
“This Rarotonga Treaty will come in by celebrating its 40th anniversary. We have been in the past used as a testing place for powers for testing nuclear weapons, as places to store nuclear waste, and also to dump nuclear waste.
“Today, we are also faced with a situation where we continue to have nuclear waste still stored. One or two countries, in particular, the Marshall Islands,” said Mr Beck.
He said that the Pacific Islands also have cases where some of their partners are discharging treated nuclear water into the ocean.
He said that the Pacific Islands need the science capability to continue to monitor those discharges, which he said will go on for the next 30 years.
“So, what the Pacific leadership basically needs is, having the capability of trying to interpret those reports or data coming from international organisations. We need to read it. We need to interpret it so that we may know the safety levels of the ocean, the health of our ocean,” he said.
He said that this is important because the Pacific Island states’ tourism and people are connected to the ocean.
“So, you see, it can wipe out our tourism industry, ocean, fisheries and people’s livelihoods,” said Beck.
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