Climate change is the central focus of the European Union’s continuing relationship with the Pacific, says the international cooperation chief. Stefano Manservisi, Director-General of International Cooperation and Development of the European Commission (DEVCOM), says his organisation is fully behind the Pacific on raising awareness of climate change. European Union’s Stefano Manservisi … “100 percent backing” for the Pacific. Image: Unimedia “Having consulted already with national level authorities on how we can step-up support, notably on climate change, we are 100 percent backing determination to do more,” he told Asia Pacific Report.

PACIFIC regionalism plays an important role in effectively addressing the challenges and threats faced in the Pacific Region. This was one of the issues that were highlighted at the European Union Regional Pacific Seminar held in Suva on Saturday. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat secretary general, Dame Meg Taylor said the Framework for Pacific Regionalism, endorsed by forum leaders in 2014, represented forum leaders' renewed emphasis on regionalism, as a means to achieve regions development goals and aspirations. "We face common threats arising from climate change, ever encroaching sea levels, and more frequent and more intense disasters from natural and man-made hazard risks," she said.

Climate change remains a major collective concern for African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, which are particularly vulnerable to its negative effects. A special meeting organised by the ACP Sub-Committee for Sustainable Development laid the groundwork for an enhanced ACP role at the COP23 global climate talks in Bonn, Germany this November.

Between 26 March and 11 April 2017, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, Flavia Schlegel, is visiting Samoa, the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Fiji. High on her agenda will be a ministerial meeting on 29 and 30 March in Apia, Samoa, with representatives of 13 developing Pacific island nations

Efforts are underway in Fiji to revive the country's cocoa industry, one year on from Tropical Cyclone Winston.A European Union-funded project, in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, has set up three new cocoa processing units, each of which includes a fermenter and cocoa dryer. The co-founder of a Fiji-based chocolate company, Tomohito Zukoshi, built the units and says they will provide a consistent A-grade quality cocoa for export. Mr Zukoshi said Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji's cocoa sector and it is still recovering. "We had invested so much of our manpower to do the pruning, and clearing, before the cyclone and then the cyclone hit and it just became worse - we lost the entire 2016's crops."

Fiji’s preparation to host the next global conference on climate change has received a major boost. This comes after the European Union exclusively told FBC News that it will offer more technical assistance to the Fijian government to host this meeting. EU Ambassador to the Pacific Andrew Jacobs says negotiations are currently underway between the European Union and the Fijian government on what type of assistance Fiji will need towards hosting the COP 23 meeting.

East African states have been asked to invest more resources in the development of renewable power projects like solar energy where the region has a better comparative advantage as compared to Hydropower which is more expensive to finance. Development partners say the climate conditions in some countries within the community such as Uganda supports the development of solar power but the country has not yet exploited such opportunities which have kept Uganda depending too much on Hydropower and biomass as sources of Energy. Speaking during the commissioning of the US$ 19 million solar photovoltaic project in Soroti, Eastern Uganda, the Head of European Union delegation in Uganda Ambassador Kristain Schmidt said Uganda is conducive for solar power development because of the climatic conditions and the regulatory framework.

The projects of the African Portuguese Speaking Countries and Timor-Leste (PALOP-TL) financed by the European Union were finalised on Thursday and Friday during technical meetings held in Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde). The ministerial meeting on Friday, assessed the projects to be financed by the 11th European Development Fund, with the participation of the Director General for International Cooperation and Development of the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi.

Rising temperatures will have severe implications for crops, water and livestock in African small states if urgent measures aren’t taken, a new report has found. The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Small States: Economic Review and Basic Statics, Volume 19 warns of the intensifying impact of climate change on the agriculture sectors in Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. It also identifies strategies that could help countries address the challenge. “What the Commonwealth report shows is that there is need for urgent action. For Africa, we need to start with better co-operation and co-ordination between those working in climate change and agriculture,” said Dr Reginald Darius, head of economic development at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Development agencies must use the momentum from COP22 to prioritise water infrastructure projects and help mitigate the effects of climate change and extreme weather events in Africa, write Elke Herrfahrdt-Pähle and Waltina Scheumann. Elke Herrfahrdt-Pähle is an economist and Waltina Scheumann is a political scientist. This editorial was first published by the German Development Institute (DIE). Last Friday (18 November) marked the end of COP22 in Marrakesh, which addressed the implementation of the climate agreement signed in Paris one year ago. The accord at long last recognised that climate change adaptation is equally as important as greenhouse gas emissions reduction.