UN to continue advocating against climate change in Pacific region: UN official

SUVA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) will continue to advocate against climate change in the Pacific region this year, said a UN official here on Monday.

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Sanaka Samarasinha, UN resident coordinator to five South Pacific island nations including Fiji, said that the countries in the Pacific region are dealing with an existential crisis that is not caused by them.

Under the climate change rubric, the Pacific countries will also be dealing with disaster preparedness and response, Samarasinha said, adding that Fiji has been proactive in its climate change revolution.

Meanwhile, Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said on Monday that to date, more than 8 million trees have been planted on a total of 9,357 hectares of land in Fiji, and this will contribute to the island nation's fight against climate change.

Bainimarama has stressed recently the importance of continuous fight against climate change, saying that the climate war will not be won with guns, ammo and artillery but with seawalls, resilient infrastructure and cutting-edge technology.

According to the prime minister, 14 cyclones have struck Fiji since 2016 and more than 40 communities are at risk of being erased by rising seas. And the banks of 45 rivers in the island nation are breaking on a monthly basis under the strain of persistently record-breaking rains.

Fiji is the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement as well as the first small island state to lead the climate negotiations as president of the 23rd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Also, Fiji is among the nations committed to net-zero emissions of CO2 by 2050.