Advancing regional climate change finance priorities

MEDIA RELEASE

Advancing regional climate change finance priorities

11 July

Nadi, Fiji – Climate Change and Finance government representatives from eight Pacific Island countries meet this week to discuss climate change finance. These discussions have the overarching goal to assist the present countries with accessing climate change funds.

A series of Regional Climate Change Finance Meetings is underway at the Tanoa Hotel in Nadi, Fiji to advance the implementation of the USAID Institutional Strengthening for pacific island countries to Adapt to Climate Change (ISACC) and DFAT/GIZ Climate Finance Readiness in the Pacific (CFRP) projects. Both projects are implemented jointly, to provide countries with integrated approaches.

Twenty participants representing eight countries from Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu are in attendance.

The countries gather to share project milestones, challenges and lessons learnt. These experiences will be aligned to peer-to-peer exchanges which will be facilitated and supported by the two regional projects. Part of the week will involve prioritizing and budgeting national work plans and developing sustainability plans which will be aimed at continuing interventions following project closure.

“Climate change finance is a cross-sectoral issue which requires whole of government approaches for timely access and implementation of climate change finance,” says Saitofi Mika, Secretary to the Office Te Beretitenti.

These meetings come on the back of the Climate Action Pacific Partnership event held in Suva (3-4 July), at which climate change financing was one of the key sectors discussed within the framework of the Marrakesh Framework.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) meeting in Tonga next week will also provide participants with an opportunity to share some of the lessons learned from the implementation of the ISACC and CFRP projects.

“The gathering this week has provided a space for Pacific island countries and partners to link the high level dialogue on climate change finance to practical approaches in addressing the region’s resilient development agenda," highlighted Dr Wulf Killmann of GIZ.

The multi-country regional climate change finance projects are implemented by the Pacific Community (SPC), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Secretariat of the Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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