Climate Change Negotiation Skills for Pacific Island Women

Climate Change Negotiation Skills for Pacific Island Women

Pacific Island Women play an important role in global climate change negotiations and a workshop at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat this week was aimed at consolidating their skills.

Participants from 9 island nations attended, including Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu. They focused on issues that included how small island states can utilise the United Nations system, the science of climate change itself, pacific gender and social issues, and the principles of effective negotiation.

Acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Ms Andie Fong Toy said "Climate change and gender equality are both key priorities for the Pacific, and workshops like this are invaluable as our region prepares for important negotiations at the UN General Assembly in September and the COP22 Conference in Marrakesh in November."

The workshop was a joint project between the Australian National University’s Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat with support from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Technical assistance was provided by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, UN Women, and the University of the South Pacific.

The participants were drawn from government departments and civil society. Several represented their governments at the COP21 negotiations in Paris in 2015. The facilitators were Professor Howard Bamsey and Dr Jeremy Farrell, who both have extensive experience with the UN system and international negotiations.

ENDS

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