Home to approximately 18,000 people, the Cook Islands is made up of 15 small islands scattered over an area of 1.8 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean. The islands are divided into two groups, the northern group being low-lying atolls and the southern group comprising of volcanic islands with low-lying coastal areas and shallow lagoons.
The geography and remoteness of the Cook Islands makes it highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, where climate change threatens sustainable development, natural resources, the economy and human wellbeing.
Globally, 2023 has been recorded as the warmest year on record, and evidence has been seen across the globe of continued rising temperatures, and with this, heightened severity of climate change impacts.
To address the increased risks of extreme weather events and natural disasters brought about by climate change, is the drafting of the national Cook Islands Climate Change Response Bill. This aims to take a consolidated approach in reducing national vulnerability and building climate change resilience.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme through the European Union (EU) Intra-ACP Plus Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience Building (PACRES) Project, have been working with the Cook Islands to assist in reviewing and developing this important piece of legislation.
With funding support from the PACRES Project, the Climate Change Cook Islands (CCCI) Office have been socialising the draft Bill through community consultations. In addition to community consultations, information on the proposed Bill were aired on national radio stations for public information. The community consultations and socialisation through radio ensure a coordinated approach in disseminating information about the Bill and including all stakeholders and relevant groups during development stage. Through project support, the Bill was also be translated from English into the Cook Islands Maori vernacular.
In January 2023, the PACRES SPREP team visited the Cook Islands to further provide support to the Cook Islands. During the visit, Ms Celine Dyer, Climate Change Coordinator for CCCI expressed her gratitude for the assistance of the project and the importance of community consultations. She said, “we are grateful to SPREP through PACRES Project for facilitating funds to engage youth and women through consultations to capture their views on the Climate Change Response Bill tabled with government.”
The next step for the Bill is the CCCI completing stakeholder consultations and discussions which will shape the Bill, prior to the draft being presented to Cabinet for their endorsement to prepare a final legislation through the Crown Law Office.
PACRES Project Manager, Mr Semi Qamese was in the Cook Islands with his team and commended the Cook Islands Government commitment to developing the Bill. He said, “the Bill is essentially the cornerstone for all climate action for the Cook Islands and will be the guiding document for how the nation will engage with regional partners and in international spaces, for example with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. I commend the government of Cook Islands for their commitment to developing this important piece of legislation.”
The EU Intra-ACP PACRES Project is aimed at improving national adaptation and mitigation solutions to climate change concerns across the Pacific. The activities in the Cook Islands come under its Key Result Area two, to provide regional support to review and develop climate change policies and priorities.
ABOUT PACRES
PACRES aims to improve regional, national adaptation and mitigation solutions to climate change concerns faced in 15 Pacific ACP countries. The 15 Pacific ACP countries are: Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
The €12.18 million PACRES is funded primarily by the European Union (EU) (€12 million) with targeted support from Monaco and the Swiss Confederation and is delivered jointly by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programmme (SPREP), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Pacific Community (SPC) and the University of the South Pacific (USP).
For more information on the PACRES project, please contact Semi Qamese, PACRES Project Manager at
[email protected].