Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi is in Fiji this week.

He is attending the 3rd Climate Action Pacific Partnership (C.A.P.P. III) meeting.

The meeting emphasises actions required to keep the 1.5°C target alive. C.A.P.P. III sessions are framed around the Talanoa Call for Action  presented at COP24 in Poland last year. 

During his remarks at the conference, Tuilaepa congratulated Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his government for hosting the third C.A.P.P., which has become an important annual gathering for all key stakeholders and partners of the Pacific to target urgent and ambitious climate actions.  

“We welcome the multi-stakeholder nature of the approach of C.A.P.P. as we will need to mobilise all sectors in order to achieve the transformational change we need to keep the 1.5 degrees target alive. 

“We must encourage innovative but genuine and durable partnerships; and focused investments to implement and enhance our Nationally Determined Contributions (N.D.C.s).” 

Tuilaepa expressed pleasure in seeing progress in the Pacific N.D.C. hub, which is a key outcome from this C.A.P.P. process.  

“The Hub will be key to N.D.C. implementation if utilised effectively. 

“We will also have the Pacific Climate Change Centre in Samoa, which will open in August and will play a critical role in enhancing the awareness and building capacities of Pacific island countries to urgently address the complexities of climate change and its impacts.  

"The Centre is an important regional resource we can use to support our efforts to build more resilient Pacific Island Communities.” 

According to the Prime Minister, the Samoa government’s priority is to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and meet our Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, where we target 100 percent renewable energy for electricity generation by 2025.  

“We are on track however our Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions informs us that the transport sector is on the rise and our schedule to electrify our public transport will be revisited for urgent attention.  

“Our consultations this year to look at our Third National Communications will be an important opportunity to reassess our climate change situation and policies, in particular our N.D.Cs.” 

The COP25 coined as the Blue COP, the ocean – climate linkages discussions will be critical and the need to look into more initiatives and analyse the most effective interventions and opportunities from the ocean-climate nexus.

The Prime Minister said the Samoa Government has a number of opportunities to engage for climate solutions and showcase our innovations and actions. 

“They are also key opportunities for us to continue to raise our voice to urge everyone for urgent climate action. 

“We have the Climate Summit, the SAMOA Pathway Mid-term review, the High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, COP25 and 2nd UN Conference on Ocean next year. 

“More strategically, let’s make optimal use of our High Level Dialogue with Secretary-General Guterres on Wednesday and turn it into a joint Pacific UN Secretary-General Climate Action Summit so that our region’s challenges and solutions to address them are given centre-stage for global attention. 

“Let’s turn this dialogue into a win-win-situation for the benefit of our islands and people and the world at large,” said the Prime Minister.