COP23 hailed as a succcess

COP23 has been a success.

These were the sentiments of the Prime Minister and COP23 President Voreqe Bainimarama while highlighting the key achievements from COP23 at his closing remarks in Bonn Germany.

Bainimarama says over the past two weeks, the global community has embraced Fiji’s concept of a Grand Coalition for greater ambition.

He says in Bonn, the support for climate action from countries, regions, cities, civil society, the private sector and ordinary men and women was clearly on display.

Bainimarama says together, they have done the job they went to do, which is to advance the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement and prepare for more ambitious action in the Talanoa Dialogue of 2018.

He adds that they brought the Fijian Bula Spirit to COP and it has been wonderful how people responded.

The Prime Minister says some of the key achievements include the announcement of an inclusive and participatory process that allows countries, as well as non-state actors, to share stories and showcase best practices in order to urgently raise ambition including pre-2020 action in nationally determined contributions which is the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue .

Bainimarama says they all leave Bonn having notched up some notable achievements, including the Ocean Pathway, the historic agreement on agriculture, an action plan on gender and a decision that benefits local communities and indigenous peoples.

He says they also secured more funding for climate adaptation and he is pleased to note that they have taken the important next step to ensure that the Adaptation Fund shall serve the Paris Agreement.

Bainimarama says they have also launched a global partnership to provide millions of climate-vulnerable people the world over with affordable access to insurance.

The Prime Minister will depart for Fiji today.