FSM Information Services
Press Release
The 50th Pacific Islands Forum: “Securing our Future in the Pacific”
NADI, Fiji—From August 13th to 16th His Excellency David W. Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and his delegation, attended the 50th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting held in Funafuti, Tuvalu. The primary outcomes of the PIF include the Forum Communiqué and the Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now, which can be found here: https://gov.fm/files/Joint%20Communiques/FINAL_-_50th_Pacific_Islands_Forum_Communique.pdf
Many citizens of the FSM have been inquiring what the PIF is—thus, before explaining the outcomes of the PIF, this release will intend to answer that question.
The sub-regional consensus from the Micronesian Presidents’ Summit and the Micronesian Islands Forum is used to inform the various leaders of the Micronesian region on their unified position in the broader Pacific, which is conducted through the PIF, which has 18 full members including leaders across Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia, Australia, and New Zealand. Once a consensus is reached on an issue in the PIF, the entire Pacific is able to use one voice to share its concerns, advice, and recommendations to the entire world through the United Nations. This unity in perspective lends great weight towards advocating for broader international support and cooperation to reach mutual goals, including the request for urgent and immediate action from all countries, organizations, and people to do their part in, for example, combating the existential threat of climate change.
President Panuelo’s schedule during the 50th PIF began with arriving in Tuvalu courtesy of the Royal Australian Air Force, with the children of Tuvalu singing songs about how saving Tuvalu from being swallowed from rising sea levels—as a low-lying atoll, Tuvalu is similar to Woleai in Yap, Satowan or Polowat in Chuuk, or Kapingamarangi in Pohnpei—is akin to saving the World.
The President attended numerous meetings and events, including the Smaller Islands States (SIS) Leaders meeting—wherein the leaders of the Cook Islands, the FSM, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, and Tuvalu met to discuss common issues and concerns, and reach consensus on how to address them as a collective. Other discussions included the PIF Leaders session with Civil Society Organizations, and a Working Dinner with the heads of the Council of Regional Organizations of the Pacific (CROP) Agencies—wherein President Panuelo presented on the outcomes of the recent Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Ministers Meeting in Pohnpei, and wished both FFA and the FSM a happy 40th birthday.
During the SIS meeting prior to the larger PIF discussions, President Panuelo said “I merely wish to say that [the FSM] is in agreement with the issues before us.”
“We are in agreement that our maritime boundaries must always remain the same [regardless of the potential impacts of sea level rise],” the President continued. “We support [the establishment of] a regional aviation ministerial meeting [to address regional safety and upper airspace management control issue]. And we stand with our neighbors, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, in…requesting an independent and objective assessment to verify the extent of any breaches at the [allegedly leaking Runit Dome].”
The culminating event was the Forum Leaders Retreat, which began at approximately 9:00am on Thursday, August 15th and concluded at approximately 10:00pm, with the Joint Communiqué and the Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now as the outcomes.
It may be helpful for citizens unfamiliar with the dynamics of these regional meetings to describe the setting. The Leaders Retreat is a discussion limited exclusively to the Leaders (i.e. the attending Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Heads of Delegation) and in Tuvalu it was held in the Kainaki II meeting house, with one high-level official from each country in a nearby building drafting the agreements of the Leaders in the form of the aforementioned communiqué and declaration. Representing the FSM in this drafting committee was the Honorable Andrew R. Yatilman, Secretary of the Department of Environment, Climate Change, & Emergency Management (DECEM).
Some of the outcomes include Leaders of the PIF calling for all parties to the Paris Agreement to meet or exceed their contributions towards pursuing global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels; requesting all parties to the Paris Agreement to formulate and communicate mid-century long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategies by 2020; that maritime zones are delineated in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and that maritime zones could not be challenged or reduced as a result of sea-level rise and climate change; that all parties attending COP 25 are to welcome the focus on oceans; and for the United Nations Secretary General to urgently appoint a Special Adviser on climate change and security, among others.
President Panuelo has urged, given the severity of the existential threat of climate change to the FSM and, indeed, the Pacific as a whole, and the World at large, that all citizens of the FSM with an interest in making a positive difference for the betterment of their families and communities to read the Kainaki II Declaration for Urgent Climate Change Action Now in full. Teachers and other educators, in particular, are encouraged to include, where appropriate, components of this declaration in their forthcoming lessons during the first weeks of the new school year.
International media have been particularly focused on the role of Australia in the Leaders Retreat. Australia is a member of the PIF, and a friend and ally of the FSM. While there were some significant difficulties and challenges in reaching consensus, the overall outcomes of the Leaders Retreat were more broadly positive than otherwise.
“I was one of the leaders that turned around and asked Australia, why can’t they come along with a strong commitment with the Pacific Island countries?” President Panuelo told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) during an August 16th interview, found here and beginning at approximately 18:13 in the hour-long program: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172wq4tpddkz6s. “We’re [going to] take this document to the United Nations.”
“Our Blue Pacific region needs to call for more urgent action at the United Nations, and indeed in every nation, to implement in full and in haste the Paris Agreement,” President Panuelo continued in his BBC interview.
President Panuelo and the FSM Delegation thanked the Honorable Enele Sopoaga, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tuvalu and Chair of the 50th PIF, and the people and Government of Tuvalu, for their genuine hospitality during the 50th PIF.
The FSM is committed to the Blue Pacific narrative and stands in solidarity with its Pacific neighbors in advocating for, and taking, pronounced action to ensure that the effects of climate change are mitigated. The Government recognizes that failure in combating climate change is not an option, and that both current and future generations of citizens of the FSM and the World depend on leaders taking actions today for our world’s environmental prosperity tomorrow.
