High-level representatives from across the sector at COP23 Finance for Climate Day had highlighted their efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The high-level representatives underlined that this challenge of coodination and coherence needed to be addressed quickly. Raising ambition to act on climate change and raising the large amount of finance needed to do it are so completely inter-connected that governments and the entire financial sector must see it as a single challenge. Eric Usher, Head of UNEP Finance Initiative said, "At the heart of the climate challenge are two gaps we urgently need to bridge: the ambition and the investment gap.” “ It is up to national governments now to increase the ambition of their NDCs to close the 17 GtCO2e emissions gap that we still face for 2030. When it comes to the investment gap, however, we need all financial players - public, private, domestic, international - and including markets and regulators, to work...

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP23), the World Health Organization, in collaboration with the UN Climate Change secretariat and in partnership with the Fijian Presidency of the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), has launched a special initiative to protect people living in Small Island Developing States from the heath impacts of climate change. The vision is that, by 2030, all Small Island Developing States will have health systems that are resilient to climate change and countries around the world will be reducing their carbon emissions both to protect the most vulnerable from climate risks and deliver large health benefits in carbon-emitting countries. South Tarawa, Kiribati (Photo World Bank) The initiative has 4 main goals. First, to amplify the voices of health leaders in Small Island Developing States, so they have more impact at home and internationally. Second, to gather the evidence to support the business c...

SI High Commissioner to Australia, H.E Collin Beck (Photo from Twitter) BY GEORGINA KEKEA Bonn, Germany SOLOMON Islands is leading discussions on behalf of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on the 'Global stocktake'.  This was revealed by the lead negotiator of the Solomon Islands delegation to the COP23, High Commissioner to Australia, Collin Beck. High Commissioner Beck said Solomon Islands is the co-ordinator for discussions on the Global stocktake a term that refers to a five yearly review of 'impact change actions' by countries. Under the Paris Agreement, every country must present a climate action plan in five-yearly cycles.   Commissioner Beck said Solomon Islands is coordinating the discussions on Global stocktake to ensure that every country step up to do their fair share in containing the emission of CO2.  ‘The challenge now is for us to make sure that we live up to the spirit of the Paris Agreement which we’ve agreed to’.  Comm...

BY GEORGINA KEKEA Bonn, Germany THE Solomon Islands Delegation to the Climate Change Conference in Germany are bringing to the table for discussions some very key priority areas for the country and the Pacific as a whole.  Speaking to the Solomon Islands media in Bonn, Germany, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Risk Management & Meteorology, Dr Melchior Mataki said they have already identified the key areas they would like to see make progress in this conference.  The 4 key areas which they have identified are; the global action for reduction of gas emissions, a clear pathway for the Paris Agreement, loss and damage and the fourth one is for the adaptation fund be made a mechanism for the implementation of the Paris Agreement. Solomon Islands delegation to COP23 with 2 Officials from PIFS (Photo by Jared Koli)  In this list of key areas for Solomon Islands, what is very crucial at this point in time are the mains...

The majority of national climate plans with an adaptation component which have been submitted under the  Paris Climate Change Agreement  prioritise action on water, yet financing would need to triple to 255 billion euros (about USD295 billion) per year to meet such targets. This  was a key message of the international water community on Friday at their Action event during the  COP23  UN Climate Change Conference. “Sustainable use of water for multiple purposes must remain a way of life and needs to be at the centre of building resilient cities and human settlements and ensuring food security in a climate change context,” said Mariet Verhoef-Cohen, President of the Women for Water Partnership, and Co-Chair of Water Scarcity in Agriculture Platform (WASAG). The international water community co-signed what it called a “nature based solution declaration” at the opening of the Water Action Day to encourage the use of natural systems in managing healthy water...