Leaders draw a line in the sand to save the oceans

With tropical waters lapping at Samoa Beach just meters away, leaders from 56 countries expressed grave concern about the global emergency facing the ocean and the slow pace of action to achieve previously set goals.

Their message was clearly articulated in the landmark Apia Commonwealth Ocean Declaration, One Sustainable Shared Future, released as part of the final communiqué of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit this week.

Beneath these waters, temperatures rise, the ocean becomes more acidic, reefs are eroded by ever-higher tides, all of which impacts the livelihood of the Samoans.

This was outlined to King Charles during his tour of the mangroves in the village of Moataa, mangroves that provide an important source of food such as mud crabs and fish.

Lenatai local leader Victor Tamapua told AFP that high tides were destroying reefs and mangroves. According to him, over the past 20 years the tide has risen by about two to three meters.

It’s a similar story across the 49 Commonwealth member states that share coastlines, but Pacific countries are among those hit hardest, the statement said.

According to the Commonwealth Secretariat, on average, 96 percent of Pacific island countries are oceanic and four percent are land.

Kiribati, one of the countries hardest hit by rising sea levels, has 4,000 times more sea than land. Its atolls and islands cover an area of ​​811 square kilometers and are located within an ocean area of ​​3.5 million square kilometers, equal to the width of the US continent.

Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Namoi Mata’afa said the Ocean Declaration “must be a line in the sand by which the world collectively transforms ocean exploitation into protection and sustainable management.

“We look forward to moving from words to action.”

Among the Ocean Declaration’s ambitious proposals is to protect at least 30 percent of the ocean and restore at least 30 percent of degraded marine ecosystems by 2030.

The declaration has been years in the making, following the Commonwealth Blue Charter adopted in 2018, which saw 17 countries lead programs to tackle marine pollution, ocean protection and a sustainable blue economy.

Meanwhile, New Zealand is committing $20 million and Australia $100 million to a new Pacific Resilience Fund, where countries can receive grants to help prepare for natural disasters and climate change.

In his final appearance to the media before departure, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said that given the core funding, other countries were expected to contribute.

Large Commonwealth states have been criticized in the past for not paying enough attention to the needs of smaller countries in the group, which has been called a pointless institution.

But Luxon said that in the case of climate change, countries such as Canada and India are well aware of the impact on small island states.

“It’s more of a unique group where 33 of the 56 countries that are part of CHOGM are small island states, whether they’re in the Caribbean, if you think about Barbados and places like that, if you think about what we see in Tuvalu. where there is an absolute existential threat. It was very much recorded.

“When you see larger countries like Australia recognizing this and being able to create a treaty agreement between Tuvalu and Australia, they recognize the sovereignty of the Tuvalu space, the land that flows into the ocean as sea levels rise, that’s important.

“Also, if they end up having to deal with climate refugees, essentially having a treaty like this, I think is a big recognition of a big country for a small country and the reality of all of this.”

The Falepili Union Agreement, signed late last year, provides up to 280 Tuvaluan citizens a year with a special migration route to live and work in Australia.

On the Commonwealth’s 75th anniversary, both Luxon and Peters stressed the need to reinvigorate the organization’s activities in areas ranging from trade and finance to artificial intelligence and security, including its voice at the United Nations.

“We want to make sure the UN continues to reform,” Luxon said. “And when Commonwealth countries come together, if you think about free and fair elections, for example, there is no one better to say that the elections are free and fair than a Commonwealth country.

“I think a unique group of countries have the opportunity to express this opinion.”

CHOGM concluded with the election of Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey as Secretary General over rival African candidates from Gambia and Lesotho. But there is no official statement on the demands of African and Caribbean countries for reparations from Britain for slavery and colonialism.

All three candidates support reparations in some form, and during CHOGM, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced increasing pressure to clarify whether he would support some form of non-financial reparations.

The king did not address this directly in Apia last week, but did speak about painful aspects of Britain’s past.

Luxon said there was an agreement that the UK would raise the issue with Caribbean countries outside of CHOGM.

“They plan to talk about it, talk about it and hold a separate forum on this issue sometime in the first half of next year.

“What’s important is that CHOGM is a place where we can have difficult and challenging conversations, but in this case it’s really up to the UK and the Caribbean to take that on.”

According to Luxon, Botchway was chosen by consensus at the leaders’ meeting, where each of the 56 member countries received an equal vote.

“You sit there with the leaders or senior cabinet ministers and everyone is completely equal, it’s not dominated by big countries, medium countries or small countries, in fact the small countries presented themselves incredibly well, spoke powerfully and convincingly.”

Much of the discussion centered on financial markets and climate finance, and how small countries can access them.

“For example, insurance risks: if there is a strong hurricane, for example in the US, as we have seen in recent months, the US economy is large enough to recover, but when it passes through the Caribbean or through the Pacific Ocean, as we have seen, it is really difficult .

“If you’re a hotel and you can’t get insurance because the cost of restoration is an issue, then we have a problem.

While some say the Commonwealth is a strange club of former British colonies, Foreign Secretary Winston Peters noted there are seven countries on the waiting list to join.

He said the new secretary general has a huge job.

“If we get the administration around it to do the work that will solve problems in the future, CHOGM will become a much more dynamic organization, both economically and socially.”

Even after 6,000 CHOGM leaders and delegates leave Samoa, the flags of the 56 countries will still fly in the villages that hosted them.

It was hailed as a huge feat, a historic development for the small island nation which had seen no major incidents in a week.

Samoa Health Director General Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma was part of the working group tasked with planning CHOGM.

“I’m very pleased. I feel like we did our best, as a community, as a nation, we pushed everyone to work hard.”

Hundreds of New Zealand, Australian and American medics, police and other emergency workers were on standby in case of an emergency.

One New Zealand medic told Newsroom yesterday that the most serious case he had treated was a man with a cough.

Ekeroma said the task force was preparing for the worst.

“We discussed mass casualty events, planes falling out of the sky and buses falling off cliffs. Hence the reason for the existence of the Australian Defense Support Vessel (HMS Tamar).

“We prepared for the worst, and I’m so glad none of this happened.”