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🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea /Environment & Climate

Pacific islands face food shortages as global warming exceeds 1.5C target, scientists warn

From Post-Courier · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Scientists warned that rising seas and warming could reduce Pacific island fishing catches, disrupt drinking-water supplies and increase flooding.
  • A UN Environment Programme report projected warming would peak at 1.8C above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C goal.
  • Pacific leaders called for more adaptation finance and tougher action on fossil fuels, while Australia’s prime minister said the energy transition could not happen overnight.

Pacific island communities could lose access to food and drinking water as global temperatures overshoot the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C target, scientists told a summit of Pacific leaders in Palau.

That’s about two meals per family per week that is not on the plate, of clean, free healthy protein that will need to be replaced.

· Andrew JonesThe Pacific Community official described the effect of a projected 65 percent loss in coastal fishing catches.

A United Nations Environment Programme report projected that global temperatures would peak at 1.8C above pre-industrial levels. In the Pacific, that overshoot could cut fishing licence fees by $90 million, or 13 percent of government revenue across the region, creating what scientists described as an economic crisis.

Tuna would migrate east, away from island states where about a third of the world’s tuna is caught, said Andrew Jones, deputy director general of The Pacific Community. Coastal fishers who supply food to island populations could lose 65 percent of their catch. “That’s about two meals per family per week that is not on the plate, of clean, free healthy protein that will need to be replaced,” Jones told reporters.

is real now, it is here now

· Maina TaliaTuvalu’s climate change minister said the climate crisis was already affecting the region.

He also warned that devastating floods would become more frequent and salt water would enter drinking-water supplies, making it harder for people to live on the islands. Maina Talia, Tuvalu’s climate change minister, said the evidence showed that the climate crisis “is real now, it is here now”.

We are fighting against a very strong current that is sweeping us into very dangerous waters and we have to do everything in our powers to fight our way back to 1.5.

· Tina StegeThe Marshall Islands climate envoy called for stronger efforts to limit warming.

Pacific island states are seeking financial support to adapt to climate change and stronger measures from developed countries to reduce fossil-fuel use. Marshall Islands climate envoy Tina Stege said, “We are fighting against a very strong current that is sweeping us into very dangerous waters and we have to do everything in our powers to fight our way back to 1.5.” Vanuatu minister Ralph Regenvanu urged Australia to stop expanding fossil-fuel exports, saying, “Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels, we all know fossil fuels are the primary driver of the crisis.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese replied that Australia’s energy transition “can’t happen overnight” and that gas would have a role during the shift to renewable energy.

Australia is not doing enough. Australia is a major producer of fossil fuels, we all know fossil fuels are the primary driver of the crisis.

· Ralph RegenvanuVanuatu’s climate change minister criticized Australia’s fossil-fuel exports.
About this summary

Originally published by Post-Courier in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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