Small Pacific Island States and the Catastrophe of Climate Change

Abstract

The international community decided at Paris in December 2015 to take some action to combat climate change. Given that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was agreed at the Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and prior to Paris there were 20 Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to the Convention with little of substance achieved, one is entitled to ask whether the actions decided upon in 2015 are too little and too late. The twin pivots around which climate change policy revolves are mitigation and adaptation. To mitigate it is necessary to keep global warming by the end of this century to less than 1.5 °C and even then there will be adverse consequences, the increase in sea levels being particularly pertinent to small island states. If mitigation is not successful adaptation will have to do all the work. The consequences of climate change fall unevenly upon nations; some will fare better than others. Few will be worse affected than the small island states of the Pacific.