New Pacific-EU framework on horizon : Stepping up a gear

A new framework for Pacific-EU cooperation is expected to emerge in the coming year. It will target adaptation to climate change but also aims at “high-impact” development aid, announced EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, during his recent visit to the region.

 “This will mean cementing our global partnership on climate change, speaking with one voice in the international debate and encouraging other partners to join forces with us, both politically and financially”, said the Commissioner speaking at the high level Regional Conference on Climate Change in the Pacific held in Vanuatu, 2-4 March. Details of the new plans are expected to be penned during the Polish Presidency of the EU from 1 July 2011.

The effects of climate change in the Pacific include rising sea levels, increased erosion from more intense storms and the risk of saltwater intruding into fresh water supplies, all of which put a brake on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In December 2010, Commissioner Piebalgs signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Tuiloma Neroni Slade (see profile in this issue). It is a rallying call to all donor entities to provide a fair share of international climate change funding to Pacific nations.

Vulnerability

The low-lying Pacific island nations have 10 million inhabitants but cover one-fifth of the globe’s surface and are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Rising sea levels mean that some of the islands could even disappear. For example, an increase in the sea level by just 60 centimetres could make the islands of Kiribati and Tuvalu uninhabitable.

Commissioner Piebalgs said that the EU should not just mop up the consequences of climate change in the Pacific having, for example, used European Development Funds (EDF) to rebuild Tonga’s only hospital, destroyed in the 2009 tsunami, on higher ground. “The EU’s own approach to funding in the Pacific needs to evolve”, he said. He suggested that the EU and the Pacific should look together at supporting not only purely technological solutions to climate change problems but also ‘greener’ ones which use, for example, overlooked traditional knowledge. The Pacific and EU needed to work on climate adaptation programmes for agriculture, water and sanitation and on renewable energies, he said.

EU programmes aimed at fighting poverty and the consequences of climate change, totalling €89.4M, were announced during the Commissioner’s visit. A proposed €11.4M of support for Pacific small island states is expected to follow. Commissioner Piebalgs has also suggested that the entire 10th European Development Fund (2008-2013) Mid-term Review “top up” for Pacific ACP countries (€16.6M) be used to address climate change issues. He called on ACP countries of the region to identify projects that link climate change adaptation with the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Debra Percival