Scott Morrison has arrived in the Pacific Islands Forum meeting and has been proving just how little his gives a shit about climate change, or the pacific islands that are threatened by it.
He offered $500 million over five years to climate resilience and adaptation, which is a tiny amount, and was met with scorn by the Tuvalu Prime Minister, Enele Sopaoga who said “no matter how much money you put on the table, it doesn’t give you the excuse to not do the right thing, which is to cut down on your emissions, including not opening your coalmines.”
Morrison’s government won’t shift from their pro-coal stance. Instead: they’ve been working on removing references to the climate crisis in the Pacific islands declaration, a communique that is being drafted at the forum. A draft of the communique said members should “reflect” on the UN’s call for no new coal and end to fossil fuel subsidies, instead of actually endorsing the call - which is what Pacific island leaders want.
Earlier this year liberal MP John Alexander received criticism from Fiji’s Prime Minister for saying citizens of the island nation should just “move to higher ground” in response to climate change. Climate change is already forcing people to relocate, abandon their homes, and rising sea levels has caused crop soils to become too salty to be viable for farming, destroying people’s livelihoods.
Climate change is not a hypothetical. The danger is now. The pacific islands are at threat and Scott Morrison is leading the charge to destroy them.
