Mr Henry Puna
COP 26 Ocean High-Level Event –Ocean Mana to One Blue Pacific
Held at the University of Glasgow
4th November 2021, from 6 – 7pm
- The Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji and Chair of the Pacific Island Forum Leaders, The Hon Josaia Bainimarama
- H.E, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson
- The Pacific Political Ocean Champion, Attorney General Hon Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum
- H.E, Baroness Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth
- H.E Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, Secretary General of the Organisation of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific
- Reverend James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches
- Excellencies, Special Guests, Ladies and Gentleman.
Warm Pacific Greetings to you all!
Despite this dreary and cold Glasgow evening, the presence of many familiar faces this evening from our home region brings us all a sense of warmth, especially as we remember our shared purpose and journey here today and over the next week.
With this in mind, it is my incredible honour to welcome you all to this auspicious Moana Blue Pacific Ocean Continent event.
This evening is one for the history books – particularly because we will, together, formally launch the Declaration on Preservation of Maritime Zones in the face of sea level rise.
It is, as you all know, a trail-blazing Declaration – for our region and for the world – this document cements, yet again, the Pacific’s global leadership in Ocean Governance.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentleman,
The Climate-Ocean nexus and the health of the Ocean is critical to life on this Blue Planet. It is critical to:
- Our future not only as a Pacific people, but indeed all humankind;
- Our existence as communities and societies in the next century; and,
- Our very livelihoods
There is no time better than the present to act and address the declining health trends of our Ocean. The science has spoken – we are all glaringly aware of the potential impacts on the ocean, if we do not act on climate change now – not tomorrow, not in 2030 – but right now!
What can we do?
Excellencies, many of our partners, including the Commonwealth, the African and Caribbean regions have all started to address the issues and key linkages between climate change, ocean and sustaining life on our planet.
For the Pacific, the ocean and our livelihoods, wellbeing, prosperity and security are inextricably linked. For us, the implications of rising sea levels are an imminent threat .
Recognising this our Leaders have committed to accelerating the finalization of their maritime boundaries, and endorsed the landmark Declaration on Preservation of Maritime Zones in the face of sea level rise.
Excellencies, it is our hope that our partners and other regional organisations will join with us, as we look to promote and advocate this new declaration, in order to influence international law, to recognise our maritime boundaries into perpetuity.
In this vein, we must maintain a collective stance and collective stewardship of ocean issues not only at home, but particularly in global ocean events.
There are upcoming opportunities in our Blue Pacific Region, including the Palau Our Ocean Conference in mid-February 2022 and the Pacific Ocean Alliance Meeting.
In addition, the Second UN Ocean Conference in June 2022 will be a critical opportunity where the Pacific will need to work together, including with our partners here today, to elevate our collective Ocean interests together, and get real traction on our priorities.
The alarm bells have been sounded – now the hard work begins. We need to realise and operationalise the political statements that have been made here in Glasgow and the onus now lies with all of us to ensure that these are not mere political statements but realised plans that will guide our next steps.
Finally, I wish to reiterate the famous Pacific analogy, the ocean-climate canoe has already set sail.
We invite you all here in Glasgow, to recognise and join this Vaka with us and together, let us chart its next course. This will be a journey where everyone here, you and I are together on the same canoe. The winds may not always be in our favour, but we know where we are going in our quest for our collective future of our one blue global ocean, and ultimately, our one Blue Planet.
This week, we all must realise that if we do not succeed here at COP26, in garnering real tangible actions, targets and commitments, we will have failed.
As the words on my friend, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson’s badge of honour says – “Never Give Up!” – We must save our Ocean, we must save our Planet – we must not fail, for our children and our grandchildren.
Excellencies, I thank you.
