Virtual Event | Climate Vulnerable Forum Continues Dialogue in the Pacific

September 4, 2021
Events, Press Releases

1-3 September 2021 – the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) held an online Regional Dialogue for the Pacific, bringing together experts and government officials in the region to discuss ways to improve regional and international responses to climate change. The three-day event resulted in the publication of the 2021 CVF Pacific Regional Communique.

The CVF’s Pacific Regional Dialogue was the third in a series of policy activities leading up to COP26 in Glasgow. Complementing regional dialogues taking place in Latin America/the Caribbean, Africa & Middle East and Asia, the recommendations will inform a global Senior Officials meeting to be held in October 2021. That meeting will formulate a “Dhaka-Glasgow Declaration of the CVF” for adoption at the next CVF High-Level Meeting at COP26.

The Regional Dialogue was co-hosted by the Republic of the Marshall Islands as CVF Troika member for the region, and Bangladesh as Chair of the CVF. Day 1 was given over to an expert meeting, to prepare a draft communique ahead of the ministerial segment on day 3. In between the two sessions, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) held a half-day workshop for member and observer officials on relevant policy issues.

The aim of the Pacific Regional Dialogue was to identify and promote headline climate change policy priorities for vulnerable developing countries of the region ahead of critical multilateral global policy events in 2021. In the words of the CVF:

For some low-lying island nations of the Pacific such as Kiribati, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, their mere existence is threatened by climate change. Millions of people are subjected to bearing the severe impact of climate change, which is undeniably an existential threat to their homeland, culture, livelihoods and identity, despite having contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

A number of PDD Steering Group members were represented among the twenty-five participating governments, including Bangladesh and Fiji, the Chair of the PDD. The Envoy of the Chair, Prof. Walter Kaelin, was invited to take the floor during the ministerial segment and Alisi Vosalevu, PDD Regional Advisor for the Pacific, spoke on his behalf, stressing the importance of a number of key policy priorities, including: recognising displacement as a current issue; incorporating displacement risk assessments and preparedness into adaptation planning and policies; ambitious climate finance; and integrating and mainstreaming displacement and migration considerations into all aspects of climate action.

The Regional Communique following the Dialogue sets out recommended priority areas for CVF Member States.