Australia to help Pacific countries meet climate goals

This week during Fiji's COP23 Presidency, Australia will provide additional support to key climate initiatives to help Pacific countries mitigate and adapt to climate change and meet their climate goals.

Australia will provide $6 million to support efforts to protect and manage coastal blue carbon ecosystems in the Pacific, in partnership with Fiji and other Pacific countries, regional institutions and private sector organisations.

These ecosystems – mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses – capture more carbon per square metre than almost any other ecosystem and play an important role as fisheries breeding grounds and natural buffers against coastal erosion from rising seas.

Australian support will strengthen blue carbon expertise and data in the Pacific, support its integration into national greenhouse gas accounting and climate policy, and encourage public and private sector investment.

Through the International Partnership for Blue Carbon, an Australia-led initiative involving more than 20 countries and organisations, we will also facilitate the global sharing of experiences and lessons learned to assist countries in our region and around the world.

Australia will join Fiji, Germany and the United Kingdom in launching the next stage of a global partnership to support implementation of the Paris Agreement. We will provide an additional $500,000 for the Nationally Determined Contributions Hub so that Pacific Island countries have better access to public and private finance, low carbon investments and debt management.

Australia has committed to spend $300 million on climate change and resilience activities in Pacific Island countries from 2016-2020, including $75 million for disaster preparedness.