Pacific Island leaders will gather in Noumea, New Caledonia, on Monday (17 November 2014) to discuss critical issues linked to climate change with the visiting President of the Republic of France, François Hollande.
Initiated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change will give Pacific leaders a platform to progress the agenda on the serious climate change challenge for the region and its real impact on the lives of Pacific Islanders.
The event will occur nearly one year before France hosts the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, where a new, universal climate agreement is due to be sealed.
Convened by SPC at its Noumea headquarters, the main event will be preceded by a Roundtable and bilateral meetings. These will involve: Pacific leaders; the French Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; the French President’s Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet, Nicolas Hulot; and SPC Director-General, Colin Tukuitonga.
The confirmed Pacific leaders (as at 13 Nov) are the: President of Kiribati, Anote Tong; Premier of Niue, Toke T. Talagi; Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga; President of French Polynesia, Edouard Fritch; and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Henry Puna.
