Prime Minister Rabuka of Fiji in his opening statement at the Pacific SIDS (Small Islands Developing States) High Level Dialogue on Climate Change held in Suva Monday, 21 August, urged world leaders to assist island nations to combat climate crisis.
He said, “We remind the rest of the world that the conditions that led to global warming were not created by the islanders of the Pacific, and yet we bear the brunt of the hazard.”
He also called for support “to build infrastructure to withstand the intensifying effects of rising sea levels, extreme weather and the shifting dynamics of the ocean.”
“The crisis relentlessly eats away at our shores and coastal areas. Six Fijian villages have already been relocated. Forty-two are earmarked to be removed in the next five to ten years.”
But despite Mr. Rabuka’s passionate call for assistance to combat climate change, he spent most of his speech justifying the highly controversial plan for Japan to release nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
He says his views are based on the scientific endorsement by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) that the discharge of wastewater met international safety standards. He also said “those who oppose the position I’ve taken are obviously entitled to their viewpoints.”
And so the Pacific Island nations are united on issues relating to climate change but divided on Japan’s imminent action to release nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Tonga’s government has not released what its position on the Japan wastewater release into the Pacific Ocean.