A total of 55 members have been selected to represent Fiji at the upcoming 29th Conference of Parties (COP29), scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, 2024.
Approximately 90 percent of the funding for the delegation’s travel to Azerbaijan will come from external sources.
Fiji’s primary focus at COP29 will be the increasing impacts of climate change and their implications for sustainable development and security—critical components necessary for building enduring resilience. This emphasis was underscored by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Professor Biman Prasad, during the announcement of Fiji’s COP29 delegation.
“At COP28, Parties committed to ‘transitioning away from fossil fuels.’ We need to ensure this principle is a fundamental theme and intention that guides negotiations in Baku and is reflected in the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) due in five months. We must be assertive and unwavering in our demand for NDCs to align with the Paris Agreement. This is undoubtedly a crucial NDC cycle concerning the vital 1.5-degree Celsius temperature limit,” Prasad stated.
As the head of the delegation, Prasad expressed the intention to emerge from the negotiations with Fiji’s priorities intact to address the challenges faced by the nation.
“You have heard our Prime Minister speak about the necessity of steering the world back on course to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. This is both our red line and our guiding star. We will not rest until this safeguard is secured, as we owe it to future generations. Our children and grandchildren will not forgive us if we lose hold of the only means to make adaptation achievable. This responsibility extends to our neighbors in Tuvalu and Kiribati,” Prasad remarked.
He further added that this commitment is owed to families across the Pacific Islands.
Prasad noted that the agenda for COP29 is closely tied to recent discussions that took place during the Forum Leaders Meeting in Tonga last month and the dialogue held in New York during this year’s UN General Assembly session.
He reiterated Fiji’s clear ambitions to address the loss and damage experienced by its people, highlighting the overarching concern about the worsening effects of climate change, its downstream impacts on sustainable development and security, and the significant gap between current financing and the necessary funding required to establish lasting resilience and transition economic structures.
The delegation is set to depart for COP29 in the next two weeks.