Climate Change sensitivities crucial for Parliament
Speaker of the Fijian Parliament Hon. Dr Jiko Luveni suggested that “the global actions for climate change should, with urgency, be translated to national legislations and policies and to have in place, a Climate Change Bill”.
This was part of the suggestions raised by the Speaker during the IPU Parliamentary meeting on the occasion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 23) held at the University of Bonn yesterday, Sunday 12th November, 2017.
To build the capacity of parliaments to address the issue of climate change through its processes, given that climate change affects the economy, the social sectors, security, the productive sectors and all development programmes, Speaker raised these suggestions which she hoped will provoke discussions to enhance inter-parliamentary cooperation to tackle climate issues.
“Members of parliament should be climate change literate to have a multiplying effect on the population and be influential in people’s actions to significantly cut and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.”
“In formulating climate change policies, members of parliament to engage with leaders in public and private sectors with all other stakeholders particularly those that have experienced the effects of climate change.”
“When scrutinizing Bills and Annual Reports, Standing Committee members should be climate change sensitive and report on how these Bills are affected by the effects of climate change, etc,” Speaker said.
She also emphasized the importance of IPU organized forums which can establish mechanisms for strong and effective links between parliaments of developed countries and those in the developing or least developed part of the world.
“I believe inter-parliamentary cooperation can be enhanced to allow for greater knowledge-sharing among parliamentarians. Parliamentarians in the low-capacity countries can benefit from the experience and resources of their colleagues in the developed countries,” Hon. Dr Luveni added.
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