After the recent terrifying report on the potentially catastrophic future of climate change, the prime minister of Fiji has called on world leaders to step it up.
“The message is clear — collectively, we are not doing nearly enough to confront the greatest threat humankind has ever faced,” Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama told Earther. “I call on all national leaders to follow Fiji and the Marshall Islands’ lead and aim higher in your national plans to reduce emissions.”
The landmark report, released Monday by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, warned that humans only have 12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the effects of climate change turn into environmental devastation.
The report — which painted a bleak future of deadlier floods, droughts and food shortages — stressed that society needs to commit to “unprecedented” change in order to stop global temperatures from rising about 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
Fiji, which consists of over 300 small islands with a population around 890,000, was the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement. While their carbon footprint is already extremely small, the island country has pledged to reduce it 30 percent by 2030, Bainimarama said. They’ve also committed to generating 100 percent of their electricity from renewable resources in the same time frame.
“The goals of the Paris Agreement are not yet out of reach, but to achieve them will require a realignment of our priorities and an unprecedented global mobilization,” Bainimarama said.
Many island nations face some of the most immediate threats from climate change and Fiji is already planning on welcoming waves of climate refugees from more low-lying areas. Rising sea levels can erode coastlines, boost storm surges and wipe out communities living at sea level. These areas also face the increasing threat of saltwater flooding their aquifers, cutting off their only supply of fresh water.
Poland will host the next round of global climate talks, of which they’ve said they expect the US to be “very active” in.
