17 November 2014: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) hosted a High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change between Pacific leaders and French President François Hollande, who will preside the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC in Paris, France. During the Dialogue, the Pacific Community urged France to take on a strong leadership role in 2015 to adopt a meaningful climate change agreement and pledged their support to Hollande during preparations for COP 21.

Hollande, for his part, called for mobilization, stressing the urgency of the situation and describing climate change as a “war against our future generations.” He promised to stand by the Pacific community and advance its agenda at both COP 20 in Lima, Peru, and COP 21. In particular, he announced that France will fund an SPC-based, senior international climate change expert to manage SPC’s climate change portfolio in 2015. The expert will coordinate with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to provide technical support to the Pacific community.

Hollande also reiterated that, in addition to seeking funds from the EU and the World Bank for the Pacific, his country would advocate for a portion of Green Climate Fund (GCF) contributions to be allocated to the region.

The SPC Director General, Colin Tukuitonga, noted that the purpose of the Dialogue was to see what additional steps the community could take jointly through December 2015 and beyond. He stressed that the fate of the Pacific island countries over the next century is closely linked to the outcome of COP 21.

Over 150 members of the Pacific community, donors, development partners and SPC staff attended the Dialogue, which took place at SPC headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia, on 17 November 2014. [SPC News Video] [SPC Press Release]