The Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Meteorology, Mr. Taitusi Vakadravuyaca

Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services, Dr. Rodney Fong

Permanent Secretary for Water Ways, Mr. Joshua Wyclife

Permanent Secretary for Agriculture, Mr. Ritesh Dass

Chief Executive Officer of the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji, Mr. Prem Naidu

Acting Director of the Fiji Meteorological Services, Mr. Terry Atalifo

Officials from Secretariat of the Pacific Community and UNDP Project Staff

Members of the media

Ladies and Gentlemen                                                                          

Good morning, Bula Vinaka, and Namaste to you all.

Last year, I addressed a similar audience at the Second National Climate Outlook Forum held in Nadi last December; and, I’m delighted to be invited to give the opening remarks at the opening of the third Climate Outlook Forum meeting today.

The United Nations has the mandate to “leave no one behind” hence our continued effort to support and work alongside the Fiji Government, civil society, and one of our valued key partner, the Fiji Meteorological Services to ensure we build disaster preparedness and resilience for all Fijians.

One of these efforts is supporting robust public forums such as this, that will enhance understanding of the implications of climate and weather on all facets of our lives. Not just understand the science, but how to transform climate data into information that communities, vulnerable members of our communities, economic sectors, tourism, health, agriculture, fisheries can utilize to make risk informed decisions.

Through the Disaster Resilience for Pacific Small Islands Developing States (RESPAC) project, UNDP has now contributed to two (2) national forums in Fiji. Judging by today’s attendance of the Permanent Secretaries of the four (4) Ministries as well as the CEO of the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji, I’m delighted to see the work that RESPAC has committed to during its implementation phase, along with its key national counterpart, the Fiji Meteorological Services, is now coming to fruition. And, I understand that some data sharing agreements will be signed this morning.

When we dwell on how climate change is impacting our lives  and start projecting its implications into the future, we need both formal and informal partnerships and free exchange of data to make meaningful in-roads and built enhanced platforms of understanding.

Today, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Waterways, and the Sugar Research Foundation have shown their commitment to engage with the Fiji Meteorology Services to jointly develop each other’s capacities and understanding of climate. You are the first but certainly not the last. I understand that more than 10 other agencies are in line to sign such agreements once these are vetted by the appropriate authorities.

I believe each major economic sector has been targeted and hopefully all will at some point, formalize their engagement with FMS and in their own way help to build the platforms of understanding climate.

I also understand a data sharing agreement with the University of the South Pacific is in draft stages. I am hopeful that this will be finalised soon. This collaboration will see an increase in climate technicians and scientists that we desperately need. In 2019, the Pacific Meteorological Council endorsed the Feasibility Study on the creation of a Regional Training Center (RTC) for the Pacific.

When the RTC is set up, and hopefully it will be within the auspices of the University of the South Pacific, the Fiji Met office and the Samoa based SPREP, the region as whole will take a new step towards enhancing the collective platform for building knowledge around climate and climate change. With a data sharing agreement in place, students will be able to do more advanced research on topics that deal with the change in climate and its impact on the lives of Pacific people.

At the global stage, the RTC will help to develop future scientists from the Pacific region who will be able to advocate our needs and contribute to solutions to overcoming the climate challenge. I am pleased to say that the RESPAC project helped in laying the initial foundation and had supported the Feasibility Study for the RTC. Hopefully it will return in some form in the future to set up this facility with the blessing of our donors and the much-needed funding.

Within Fiji, I am also proud to say that UNDP through RESPAC has led the way in providing an improved weather and climate monitoring infrastructure relevant to our partner’s needs. I am told that the first stage of the Automated Weather Station installation at the Sugar Research Institute of Fiji, based in Drasa, Lautoka was well executed and there are plans to upgrade similar devices at the Dreketi Rice Irrigation Area, in Vanua Levu and the Nacocolevu Agriculture Research Station in Sigatoka. With future funding, FMS will be able to provide more incisive and targeted assistance to suit the needs of each partner and I can assure you that UNDP will assist, should the Fijian Government request our support.

Prior to COVID-19, Climate Change was the predominant global topic and while attention has somewhat shifted to the pandemic, conversations surrounding climate change and subsequently of climate action will remain a high priority due to the hazardous impacts to small island developing states and the long term future of planet earth.

The theme for this year’s National Climate Outlook Forum 2020 is very relevant, focusing on Oceans and Fisheries. Within UNDP, we have identified issues associated with Small Island Developing States - what we refer to as the SIDS offer. Three aspects to the SIDS offer are “Climate Action”, “Digitilisation” and “Blue Economy”. As for the Blue Economy, the ocean plays a vital role in many sectors for Fiji; tourism, fisheries, shipping. How do we support these sectors’ livelihoods? This discussion can start here in this forum.   

Living and working in the Pacific, I don’t have to remind us of the importance of our work, nor the challenges faced by small island developing states. We experience these ourselves; we hear the personal encounters and impact caused by hydro-meteorological hazards on vulnerable communities, women, children, people living with disability and the elderly. Each time we are humbled to hear of “sole-sole-vaki”- the community resilience rising in the midst of disaster. We are also part of the sole-sole-vaki web, which provides a service to the communities we serve. This year’s NCOF 2020 is your opportunity to learn more from each other and provide a holistic service to the peoples of Fiji and the region.  

In conclusion, I wish to thank each and every one of you for your time and effort in participating in this NCOF. I hope that you will become the advocates for climate change in your respective organizations and ensure that we take the implications of climate change seriously in all facets of our professional and personal lives. A strong and sustainable future can only be ensured if we play our part with commitment. It is within our power to determine what we leave behind for our next generation.

Vinaka vakalevu and thank you.