Japan’s decision to release the Fukushima nuclear wastewater to the Pacific Ocean in April is still a major issue to Pacific Island countries, and especially the Polynesia bloc.
At the 52nd Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting (PIFLM) currently held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, Polynesian countries are calling for a halt to the Fukushima wastewater discharge. At the Polynesia Leaders group meeting at the beginning of PIFLM, chaired by the President of French Polynesia, Moetai Brotherson, the Polynesian leaders shared a common position of not being in favour of the diluted radioactive wastewater release into the Pacific Ocean.
It has been a common practice of the PIF Leaders Meetings to convene the group gatherings of the leaders of the three main subregions of the Pacific: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. This way groups would identify the issues most concerning to each group, and submit to the Forum Meeting as possible agenda items.
Those who gathered at the Polynesian Group included Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, who chairs the Forum; Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa, American Samoa Governor Lemanu Maunga, Niue Premier Dalton Tagelagi, Wallis and Futuna President Munipoese Muli’aka’ak, Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano, and Tonga Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku.
Brotherson said: “We have a shared position that we are not in favour of this releasing of the wastewater into the Pacific.”
“We would have rather had the discussions taking place here at the Forum before Japan took its decision, but this was not the case unfortunately. We are going to speak as a group during the Forum on this issue and say that we would prefer these waters not be released in the Pacific Ocean.”
Cook Islands Prime Minister Brown previously supported the discharge largely based on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report, that claimed the release of diluted radioactive wastewater would have minimal risk, and that over the 4 decades release plan by Japan it would pose very little or no effect at all.
In January this year, PIF Secretary General Henry Puna said: “Japan must work with the Pacific to find a solution to the Fukushima water release issue – otherwise we face disaster.” He added later: “I was heartened by the very strong position taken by PIF Members from the outset, that Japan should hold off on any such release until we are certain about the implications of this proposal on the environment and on human health, especially recognising that the majority of our Pacific peoples are coastal peoples, and that the ocean continues to be an integral part of their subsistence living.”
In August, Prime Minister Brown said: “I have read the reports, assessed the science, and invested trust in our International Organisation that has the expertise in this area. This is not a decision taken lightly as I will never support unsafe and dangerous nuclear dumping.”
Obviously, Prime Minister Brown has made adjustments to his position to be able to stand together with the other Polynesian leaders to bring the issue up at the Forum for assessment.
The Melanesian Leaders group met with leaders of three countries not attending: Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea, Solomons Islands’ Manase Sogavare, and Vanuatu’s Charlot Salwai. They also discussed the issue of the wastewater release into the Pacific Ocean.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of Fiji expressed an apology to the group for statements he made after reviewing the IAEA report. He had supported the wastewater release.
“I want to make it crystal clear that my statement was never intended to oppose the collective views of the MSG nations. It was in fact, a representation of our sovereign nations’s perspective, firmly rooted in scientific knowledge,” Mr. Rabuka told the group.
Despite differences and maybe diversities of views on various issues, the Pacific Leaders have been called on by the PIFLM host Hon. Mark Brown to stand together “for it is in our togetherness that we are strong.”
He has said at the outset of PIFLM that the Pacific region is not a region of competition but of collaboration.
The theme of this important gathering of Pacific Leaders is: “Our Voices, Our Choices, Our Pacific Way.” The 52nd PIFLM will be concluding on Friday 10 November.