Pacific frustration mounting at climate change inaction: New Zealand expert

Peoples of the Pacific islands are becoming increasingly frustrated at the world's failure to properly address the causes of climate change and rising sea levels, a leading New Zealand climate change expert warned Friday.

Experts throughout the Pacific were urging all countries to sign up to and ratify the new Paris Agreement on climate change, or face up to the prospect of a climate that won't be safe for humanity, said Professor James Renwick of Victoria University.

Renwick was a co-author of the Outcome Statement of the university's Pacific Climate Change Conference in February, which made recommendations on how Pacific nations could combat the effects of climate change.

It called for other strong actions including establishing a universal price on carbon and increasing contributions from Pacific nations to international climate change reports and science research.

The statement was based on the feedback from more than 250 professionals in climate change science, international law, indigenous rights, advocacy, politics, civil society, sustainable development and the media, Renwick said in a statement.

It captured "the unprecedented roar of voices heard at the conference of people frustrated that the current pace of change isn't enough to address or resolve the problems we're facing in the Pacific."

"We're already seeing a steady rise in sea-levels, ocean acidification and increasing intensity of extreme weather events, with an alarming outlook for future change. If we don't make serious efforts now, the outcome could be catastrophic for people of the Pacific, and that includes New Zealand," he said.

Delaying action would have extraordinary costs, economically, ecologically and socially.

"Unfortunately, the Pacific carries the burden of being on the frontline of climate change, despite its negligible contribution to the problem. This Outcome Statement, however, acknowledges we need for immediate action, for the very survival of humanity and the environment as we know it."

The Outcome Statement recognizes the urgent need to facilitate the provision of finance, technology and capacity-building support by developed countries for more effective pre-2020 action by Pacific nations.

It also urged the New Zealand government to show moral leadership, and accept the challenge to support and enable Pacific leadership. Endit