Government Has to Set Own Priorities – Vanuatu

Government Has to Set Own Priorities – Vanuatu

By Ben Kedoga, NBC PNG

10 July 2013, Nadi, Fiji - Governments of Pacific Island countries should be the ones setting the priorities and policies for their respective responses to climate change adaptation and disaster risk management instead of letting non-governmental organisations, partners and donors to take the lead.

This came from the minister responsible for climate change in Vanuatu Government, Thomas Laken.

Vanuatu has taken the lead in the Pacific region by streamlining its climate change responses by creating the Ministry of Climate change.

Laken says while it is important to have NGOs, partners and donors helping to develop responses to climate change challenges, the respective Pacific island countries should be the ones dictating what they want.

“I think it is good that they come in with their plans and let the advisors from each countries to direct them and tell them this is what we want so that they can come in and help us, but not for them to come and instruct us a.., can you do this, or can you do this, I think it’s our time to stand on our feet and tell them this is what we want”

The Director General of the Ministry of Climate change, Jotham Napat also shared similar sentiments, adding that the government and the people know their needs better, and they just need the support to address their climate change response needs.

He says in Vanuatu’s case they’ve realized that things were done at an ad hoc base without proper coordination and in most cases projects or programmes were not sustainable for local communities.

“In the past they are the ones who dictate, this time it is the opposite , we dictate, we tell them, these are our needs, because we know our country best and we know what is important, we know our priorities and what is suitable for our countries. Everybody’s talking about mainstreaming DRR and CCA and I think that’s the trend, that’s the global trend, that’s the regional trend and we are already delivering. We are already demonstrating that, yes, mainstreaming DRR and CCA is working. We have to start somewhere. It’s already a message to all our financiers and regional agencies that we have to do something”

The Joint Meeting of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable is from 8 – 11 July and is jointly organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. The meeting is hosted by the Government of Fiji.

ENDS

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