FIJI has called for faster, simpler and more flexible climate finance for small island states, warning at the Global Environment Facility Assembly that the world is moving too slowly as climate risks intensify.
In her address in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Fiji’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Lynda Tabuya, said the world is in a “last sprint toward 2030”, and that small island developing states are trying to do the work of a marathon “we are far from completing.”
She argued that the pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and ecosystem degradation is now rising faster than governments can respond.
“Access to finance for Small Island Developing States must become simpler, faster and more responsive,’’ Tabuya said.
Tabuya said, making the case that vulnerable countries still face lengthy approval processes, complex procedures and limited implementation flexibility.
“Fiji is already seeing the economic consequences of climate change, citing IMF estimates that sea-level rise could cost the country between 0.9 per cent and 2.6 per cent of GDP each year without urgent intervention.’’
Rising seas, she said, threaten coastal communities and infrastructure, while intensifying weather patterns are bringing added uncertainty to the Pacific.
Tabuya warned that the region could face serious disruption as a super El Niño develops.
“Extreme weather events are becoming more intense,” she said, adding that the Pacific is confronting “already unpredictable annual weather patterns.”
She pressed for a stronger GEF-9 replenishment, saying the risk of overshooting 1.5 degrees is very real and that the consequences for the most vulnerable will keep rising with every increment of warming.
“Fiji’s own priorities, including climate resilience, biodiversity protection, ecosystem restoration, low-carbon development and chemicals and waste management. Those goals are tied directly to Fiji’s national plans, its nationally determined contributions and the Blue Pacific strategy.”
Tabuya said Fiji has now fully used its GEF-8 STAR allocation, which she described as evidence of strong national ownership and a commitment to delivering environmental programmes.
She pointed to projects on marine and terrestrial biodiversity, ridge-to-reef management, watershed protection, electric mobility and community-based ecosystem management.
Tabuya’smessage repeatedly returned to one theme: finance must be matched to need.
“Finance is the hydration that can keep us moving towards ambitious and science-based targets,” she said.
Tabuya said the final years through 2030 require transformational, system-based approaches, not fragmented action. Environmental protection, she argued, can no longer be treated in isolation from food security, water security, resilient infrastructure and economic development.
She urged delegates to move from commitments to implementation, from ambition to delivery, and from dialogue to action, while thanking the GEF Secretariat, implementing agencies, development partners and member states for their support.
