Tuvalu PM wants real commitments at NY climate meeting

Transcript

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, says he wants to see real commitments to dealing with the effects of climate change when he co-chairs a United Nations summit next month in New York.

Mr Sopoaga says the meeting has been called, just ahead of the General Assembly, to try and get a binding agreement at next year's COP 21 meeting in Paris.

He has been one of the Pacific most vocal leaders on climate issues since he was elected a year ago.

Mr Sopoaga says he opposes talks of relocation, saying such talk is a sell out when not enough effort has been made to properly help Tuvaluans adapt to the effects of climate change.

ENELE SOPOAGA: What has been talked about mainly in terms of verbal rhetoric commitment, but nothing really has come out in terms of solid assistance to help countries like Tuvalu to adapt to the effects of climate change and we are still seeing schemes that are still very very experimental in nature and there are no schemes to really help small islands like Tuvalu to build their adaptation capacity on the ground, protective measures to help them fare through these impacts of climate and sea level rise. So that's one message we are going to ask and countries that are denying these and stepping away from the conventions and away from the Kyoto Protocol, it is most unfortunate. But the other thing besides financing, we need the whole world to look at the energy source of our habitualisation, whether it's in electricity generation, or transport because we may be forced to relocate maybe to resettle elsewhere but it doesn't stop the cause of climate change. Climate change is going to catch up with everybody, with everybody, big countries, small countries, everyone, unless we seriously look at the energy mix for the world economy. So there are options available but we can not take these options into reality unless there is strong political commitment and leadership on this. So the events in New York, are gifts humanity gives the international community, a very good opportunity to share ideas and to get some public opinion to have the leadership of nations come to Paris ready to conclude in agreement to really address the issues of causing global warming and climate change. And I'm looking forward to that opportunity, I'm very happy to have been chosen to be one of the co-chairs and Tuvalu is very honoured to be in that position.