Pacific Islands Forum

Background

The PIF originally consisted of 7 members (Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa). It has expanded to also include the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Niue, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. New Caledonia and French Polynesia became Associate Members in 2006.²

Members of the Forum meet on an annual basis to discuss issues relevant to member states and release collaborative statements. There are no formal proceedings for meetings; the agenda is based on reports from the Secretariat, and decisions are reached by consensus and summarized in a Forum Communiqué.

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) serves as the PIF’s administrative arm. Among other functions the PIFS acts as the Secretariat at meetings of the Forum, implements decisions, and facilitates assistance to member states. Based in Fiji, the PIFS is funded through contributions of member governments and donors. The organization has a budget of roughly FJ$36 million in 2006.³

Climate action plans

The onset of climate change has become a critical issue for Pacific island states  in recent years, and the PIF has provided a powerful, uniting voice on the matter for a group of states that individually have limited political and economic leverage. While the small pacific island states generate very few greenhouse gases, they are especially susceptible to the exacerbation of climate variability, sea level rise and extreme weather events associated with climate change.⁴ For Example, Tuvalu (5m > sea level) is predicted to be submerged by 2100.⁵

Executed between 2000 and 2004, the PIF's Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change, Climate Variability and Sea Level Rise became the first collaborative agreement on climate change in the region. This agreement was heavily expanded in the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change (PIFACC), which is currently being implemented (2006-2016). Adopted by the PIF in 2005, the framework outlines an approach for combating the causes and effects of climate change in the region.⁶ The main goal of the framework is to ensure that Pacific Island residents build their capacity to respond to the risks and impacts of climate change.⁷ The PIFACC was accepted by the 23 Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), including Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Solomon Islands.

On August 26, 2008, the 39th PIF held in Niue endorsed the first ever climate change declaration for the region.⁸  In the declaration the PIF members committed, among other things, "to continue to develop Pacific-tailored approaches to combating climate change, consistent with their ability to actively defend and protect their own regional environment, with the appropriate support of the international community" and "to continue to advocate and support the recognition, in all international fora, of the urgent social, economic and security threats caused by the adverse impacts of climate change and sea level rise to our territorial integrity and continued existence as viable dynamic communities; and of the potential for climate change to impact on intranational and international security."⁹  

The PIF has also worked closely with the United Nations on initatives regarding climate change. In August 2008, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the United Nations and Samoa will establish an Inter-Agency Climate Change Centre to help coordinate support to Pacific Island countries on strategies related to mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk prevention.¹⁰

Footnotes

1. : Official Website of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. About Us. Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.

2. : Official Website of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Member Countries.Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.

3. : Official Website of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. About Us. Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.

4. : Press Statement 26 August 209. Pacific Island Forum Secretariat Press Statement: Forum Leaders endorse the Niue Declaration on Climate Change, 26 August 2008. Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.

5. : Smithsonian Magazine August 2004. Will Tuvalu Disappear Beneath the Sea? . Retrieved on: 24 June 2009.

6. : Chicago Tribune 12 April 2009, Global warming: Australia already showing effects of climate change, some experts say Retrieved on: 14 April 2009. Press Statement 26 August 209. Pacific Island Forum Secretariat Press Statement: Forum Leaders endorse the Niue Declaration on Climate Change, 26 August 2008. Retrieved on: 14 April 2009. 

7. : South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). Action Plan for the Implementation of the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change 2006-2015, page 3. Retrieved on: 16 April 2009.

8. : Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Pacific Island Forum Leaders endorse the Niue Declaration on Climate Change, 26 August 2008. Retrieved on: 21 April 2009.

9. : Pacific Island Forum. Press Statement: Pacific Island Forum leaders endorse the Niue Declaration on climate change.26 August 2008

10. : UN News Centre. Ban to set up new climate change centre to support Pacific island countries, 19 August 2008. Retrieved on: 21 April 2009.

Resources

Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change 2006 – 2015, Final Approved Framework (pdf). Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.

Pacific Island Forum Website, National Sustainable Development Strategies(Outlines sustainable development strategies for various member countries.) Retrieved on: 14 April 2009.