Addressing climate change is everyone’s responsibility – Speaker

Addressing climate change is no longer the sole responsibility of the Government but every community and individual that cares about life, preservation and sustainability.

These were the comments made by the Speaker Hon. Dr Jiko Luveni while officiating at the 2017 Vodafone Hibiscus Festival pre-launch cocktail at the Bank of Baroda Tent near the National Aquatic Centre in Suva this evening.

The festival committee’s decision to choose the theme- “Climate Change: Telling our own Narrative”– Hon. Dr Luveni said augured well for the chairmanship role that the Government assumed and would culminate at the COP23 conference to be held in Bonn, Germany in November, this year.

“This is why I want to commend you most sincerely for using the platform of the Hibiscus Festival to raise awareness about the consequences of climate change,” she said.

“What you have done and I say this with a sense of pride, complements very well with the efforts and messages that have already been made and conveyed by the Government at the global level and for that, I must really thank you for expressing your support through this year’s Hibiscus Festival theme.”

Hon. Dr Luveni added the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in 2015 committed us as a nation to initiate activities that protected our environments from further degradation and sustainably managing our resources for our present needs and indeed the needs of our future generations.

“More specifically, Sustainable Development Goal 13 calls us to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

“I hope that we can, through the Hibiscus Festival, glean messages of SDG 13, from the 61 contestants, to be shared through their research topics, speeches and their talents.

“I also hope that we can capture fresh ideas from them that can help us make quality decisions in addressing domestic environmental challenges that impact greatly on climate change.”

Ends