At the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) which opened in Suva, capital of the Republic of Fiji, on Tuesday, countries on the front lines of rising waters called on Thursday for “urgent and immediate” global action against the climate change.

Pacific island leaders have stressed that time is running out to avoid “worst-case scenarios” that would see their countries, many of which sit just above sea level, engulfed or rendered uninhabitable by growing storms. violent. “We are on the frontline of the adverse effects of climate change,” leaders reiterated in a joint 2050 strategy document, adopted after three days of discussions. They then called for “urgent, robust and transformative action” at all levels, national, regional and global.

Washington promet 600 millions de dollars

The 2022 edition of the Pacific Islands Forum was the most important in years: the climate emergency is becoming more pressing for low-lying islands, and the forum could not be held during the pandemic of Covid-19. But the summit was marked by geopolitical rivalries in the region, particularly between the United States and China.

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced in a video address that Washington will open two new embassies in the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Kiribati, appoint a regional envoy and inject an additional $600 million into the region to try to contain the advance of China in this part of the world.

China has made no secret of its ambitions in the region, deploying its state-owned enterprises there and exercising checkbook diplomacy. If Beijing signed a much criticized security agreement this year with the Solomon Islands, the Prime Minister of this country, Manasseh Sogavare, reassured his island partners by announcing, on the sidelines of the summit, that he would not host a military base. foreign.

Establishing such a base would make the Solomons “an enemy” of the Pacific and “make our country and our people potential targets for military strikes”, Sogavare told RNZ Pacific television.