Pacific Islands adopt new climate strategy

A new climate change strategy was adopted by small island states last week to ensure their concerns are addressed as part of the regional policy agenda.

The strategy was agreed at The Small Island States of the Pacific Islands Forum by leaders from the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu at a meeting last week in Palau.

The Forum Secretariat's Development Co-operation Advisor, Alfred Schuster, says that addressing climate change is one of the top priorities of the strategy.

Schuster said the Small Island States want to form partnerships when applying for climate change mitigation funding from the United Nations.

Mr Schuster said: "It'll be a new approach, from what we understand a joint proposal of countries and governments hasn't yet been brought to the attention of the Green Climate Fund. But we'd like to think it's a much more strategic way in light of the administrative burden and administrative requirements of the Green Climate Fund to generate the sort of revenue that's required by the SIS."