Taking a look at climate action
According to a recent news report from Radio New Zealand, more attention needs to be given to countries most vulnerable to the climate crisis, Pacific communities in New Zealand say.
Quoting the news bulletin, it said:
“As Kiribati, Tuvalu and Tokelau battle rising tides, its youth are bringing attention to the plight over its climate change inaction, New Zealand has largely been praised.
“If nothing else, a full endorsement of climate agreements at July's Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu earned it the respect of Pacific leaders.
“But not everyone's convinced enough is being done to tackle the climate crisis where it hits the hardest: atoll nations.
“A youth advisor for the Kiribati community in Auckland, Rubina Tekanene, is worried for her people.
"I feel sad because that's where our roots come from. Maybe one day I'm not going to hear Kiribati anymore because it's disappeared."
“Ms Tekanene said there should be more priority given to resettling those displaced by rising sea levels.
“According to the International Labour Organisation, as many as 350,000 people from Pacific atoll populations are at risk of displacement.
“But not everyone's ready to give up just yet.
“A former Tokelauan public servant now living in Auckland, Heto Puka, said New Zealand needed to step up his efforts on climate mitigation.
“Tokelauans are frustrated, Mr Puka said.
"The issue is that it's a lot more about policy, policy being driven by the government, whether it actually meets the concerns of the people on the ground."
“A three-metre seawall is all that protects Tokelau's three remote atolls.
“It recently secured New Zealand Foreign Ministry support in mitigating coastal hazards.”
Several days before the Climate Action Summit, which is scheduled to open on Sept. 23 in New York, a symposium hosted by the International Green Development Program IGDP showcased China's actions and growing ambitions in its pursuit of carbon neutrality by 2050.
"It is high time for us to be alarmed by the possible catastrophic climate tipping elements and make comprehensive efforts to prevent them from happening," said Zhao Jiaxin, a Rhodes Scholar and a Chinese representative of the first Youth Climate Summit to be hosted two days prior to the main Climate Action Summit.
During his presentation at the symposium, Zhao said that one of the urgent problems threatening human society is the melting glaciers in the Arctic. According to him, the reflection of sunlight in this particular region is weakening due to the diminishing size of glaciers, which in turn accelerates the further melting of ice in the North Pole.
"If we don't act in time, the impact can be fatal," he said.
At the symposium, Xie Qian, the climate change and energy director of the Natural Conservancy, a US-based NGO founded in Virginia, proposed natural-based solutions such as the restoration of ecological diversities.
"The world can be likened to a big house where a smoker lives. However, when the house starts to accommodate an increasing number of smokers, the air inside becomes suffocating. The lives of the smokers cannot be saved only by getting rid of their smoking because by that time the house would already have been severely polluted. You would then need trees and a wood floor, which are capable of absorbing polluting chemicals. That is essentially what our strategy is to mitigate the impact of climate change," she said.
Sources Radio New Zealand and China News.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
