Climate Change is 'no laughing matter' - Fijian Prime Minister told his Australian counterpart in Suva

Climate change is "no laughing matter" and poses an "enormous" threat to Fijians and Pacific Islanders, Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has told Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Suva. who made visits to Pacific Island countries.

COP23 President and Fijian Prime Minister Hon. Frank Bainimarama delivers his remarks at the COP 24 meeting in Katowice, Poland in December 2018.

The Fijian Prime Minister called on Australia to put the welfare of Pacific people's before the interests of any single industry.

"Here in Fiji, climate change is no laughing matter," he said.

"From where we are sitting, we cannot imagine how the interests of any single industry can be placed above the welfare of Pacific peoples — vulnerable people in the world over."

It is the first time a political leader has publicly confronted Mr Morrison on the question of climate change during his Pacific tour.

"Prime Minister, I urged your predecessor repeatedly to honour his commitment to clean energy future, the only future that guarantees the survival of your neighbours in the Pacific," he said.

A vocal proponent of climate change policy who led the UN's Climate Change Conference in 2017, Mr Bainimarama said the issue "cannot be written off as a difference of opinion".

"Consensus from the scientific community is clear, and existential threat posed to Pacific Island countries, a certainty."

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news