Kioa Climate Emergency Declaration from the Pacific in preparation for COP27

The Pacific Conference of Churches has shared the Kioa Climate Emergency Declaration, raising demands for urgent decarbonisation, recognition of loss and damage, community-informed migration strategies and accessible climate finance.

The three-day consultations on Kioa Island in Fiji saw civil society organisation representatives of the Pacific and Oceania, frontline and indigenous communities, grassroots organisations, youth networks, and faith-based organisations make a united call for urgent climate action in the lead up to the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt next month.

The declaration is unique in its setting, deliberated and signed on the shores of Kioa Island, a community relocated 75 years ago from the island of Vaitupu in Tuvalu. The preamble references the plight of countries such as Fiji, Tuvalu and the Republic of Marshall Islands, and the lessons from communities such as Rabi, Kioa and the Torres Strait Islands. Driven by these realities, the Kioa Declaration demands urgent and decisive action through:

1. Greater action on mitigation, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to align to the 1.5 degrees celsius temperature goal, to ensure survival of small island communities.
2. Urgent action on adaptation including financing and support for community-led initiatives.
3. Urgent progress on the issue of Loss & Damage (L&D)
4. Ensure the just, dignified and safe movement of peoples, in the context of climate change
5. Guaranteed access to finance, and the creation of more equitable finance arrangements, beginning with a review of regional and international financial architectures, with inputs from civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
6. Ocean policies that are compatible with the climate goals
7. Achieve inter-generational equity, ensuring we leave a better world for our descendants, by cancelling climate debt and a commitment to a debt-free future.

The Declaration is accompanied by the Kioa Pledge, a commitment from civil society representatives present to provide resources and capacity to the communities they represent, clearing pathways to access climate finance.

Signatories included the Kioa Council, Pacific Conference of Churches, 350.org Pacific, Pacific Climate Warriors, Greenpeace Pacific, Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), PIANGO Pacific 2030 (PIANGO), Loss & Damage Youth Coalition Pacific, Caritas Oceania, Caritas Australia, International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD), Rabi Youth Council, amongst other Pacific CSOs and representatives from indigenous and frontline communities across the Pacific.

Pacific Conference of Churches, General Secretary, Reverend James Bhagwan (pictured on the right), said the regional island communities were doing their best to look beyond the horizon of the current climate crisis to be resilient while making sure there was a just, compassionate, transition for all.

While thanking the British High Commissioner Dr Brian Jones who officially opened the three-day dialogue, Reverend Bhagwan acknowledged the diplomat’s deep, honest words on how people affected by climate change should should frame their demands in simple, concrete steps which could be easiy understood. 

“For the next few days, we will do our part, all we ask is that the government and others do their part," Reverend Bhagwan said.

With the theme “Tears of Resilience” Reverend Bhagwan reflected on the Pacific Poet-Teresia Tewaiwa’s lament - “We are salt water people because we sweat and cry salt water.”  

He said this summarized the commitments the Kioa people had made, and the ownership they had taken over changes the Pacific and the World needed to see. 

“In the Melanesia concept, we are Wansolwara, we are one family, one people, you have reflected on the tears of lament, the tears of pain and suffering, the tears of fear our Pacific people share when they reflect on the climate emergency they find themselves as people of the Oceans,” Reverend Bhagwan said.  

The Ocean, he said, produced 50-80 per cent of oxygen that the planet breathes and kept the planet alive. 

“In the Pacific tradition we do not only share tears of pain, but (also of) joy, tears of relief and happiness, tears of hope. Tears of our people who are not drowning but fighting, tears to draw strength from the fenua, from the Moana and from God, for the fight of their life, for their community and for their future, “ he said. 

Reverend Bhagwan called on the British High Commissioner and the UK Government to walk and paddle with the people of Kioa.

“They have the knowledge, they know where they are heading to and all they ask is the strength of your arm and the strength of your people’s arm to journey together,” he said.

Rev. James Shri Bhagwan
General Secretary
Pacific Conference of Churches