9 September 2011: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the 42nd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), where he engaged in an interactive dialogue with Forum leaders and released a joint statement with leaders. The 42nd PIF convened in Auckland, New Zealand, from 7-8 September 2011.
In the joint statement released by the PIF Secretariat, Forum leaders and the UN Secretary-General: stressed that climate change and ocean acidification remain the greatest threats to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific, and reaffirmed the need for urgent international action to reduce emissions commensurate with the science and associated impacts of climate change and ocean acidification on the most vulnerable Pacific communities and peoples; stressed the critical importance of the sustainable development, management and conservation of the region’s oceans, and called for the “Blue Economy” to figure prominently at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20); reaffirmed the unique and particular vulnerabilities and development needs of small island developing States (SIDS), emphasizing the importance of enhanced coherence, coordination and responsiveness in the UN system’s support for SIDS; and agreed to convene meetings between the UN Secretary-General and PIF Leaders at regular intervals, beginning on the margins of the opening of the 67th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2012.
Key outcomes of the PIF included the reappointment of Tuiloma Neroni Slade as Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat for a second term of three years, and a forum communiqué with sections on, inter alia: sustainable economic development; fisheries; transport and energy; tourism; education; trade; labour mobility; climate change; the Pacific Plan; the Cairns Compact; health; and Pacific Oceanscape.
On climate change, leaders: stressed the critical and urgent need for adaptation finance to enable Forum Island Countries to respond to the adaptation needs of its people, in particular those already suffering, displaced or being displaced as a result of the detrimental impacts of climate change; and emphasized the need to secure appropriate governance arrangements, disbursement modalities and procedures to accommodate the particular constraints of Forum Island Countries in the development of the Green Climate Fund and in the operation of other financing opportunities. [Forum Communique] [PIFS Press Release] [Joint Statement of Forum Leaders and UN Secretary-General]