Dame Meg recognised eight women who, she said, have “championed climate advocacy”.

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Dame Meg Taylor said the leadership of women was vital to more being accomplished in addressing climate change.

“The Pacific region’s ability to address the challenges of climate change can be more effective if we continue to create opportunities for increased participation and leadership from our women,” she said.

Speaking at the Women’s Leadership in Climate Diplomacy Breakfast organised by the Fijian Government and Australia, Dame Taylor said more needed to be done at the local, national and regional levels to improve engagement with women and girls.

“In considering innovative advocacy and partnerships for climate diplomacy, this morning’s dialogue presents us with the opportunity to reflect on the leadership role of Pacific women – how they have, and how they must continue to be involved in driving solutions that seek to address our climate challenges,” said Dame Meg

“Climate leadership and advocacy remains crucial for our region and must include the voices of all stakeholders. Outside of their intellectual contributions and initiative – I believe that women bring an intuitive perspective to all situations – we should recognise and capitalise on this as we build our resilience to climate change and disaster risks for our families, for our communities and countries.”

Dame Meg recognised eight women who, she said, have “championed climate advocacy.”

These include in our national governments our Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York – Ambassadors Marlene Moses (Nauru), Jane Chigiyal (Federated States of Micronesia), Amatalain Kabua (Marshall Islands), Makareta Baaro (Kiribati) and Olai Uludong (Palau), who have and who continue to be active climate champions and advocates for the region including through the broader Association of Small Island States.

“In our regional agencies women such as Dr NetatuaPelesikoti from Tonga, who served the region as the Director of SPREP’s Climate Change Division until a few months ago.

“I also wish to recognise Ms Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner of the Marshall Islands, a strong climate activist, poet and strong voice for Pacific Youth, and Fiji’s Noelene Nabulivou, who leads campaigns that advocate for equality and partnerships on women and gender, climate change and sustainable development.”

Dame Meg commended Fiji’s leadership role as incumbent President of the 23rd Conference of  Parties (COP23), drawing specific attention to the Gender Action Plan, a priority for their Presidency which “presents an opportunity to ensure that our global, regional and national aspirations around gender equality and women’s leadership and decision making is captured, resourced and tracked.”

The Secretary General also praised the partnership between the Forum Secretariat, the Women’s Environment and Development Organisation and the Australian government, which has resulted in two successful Pacific Women’s Climate Change Negotiators Workshop’s being conducted this year. Twenty  participants from the workshops will be members of their  delegations at COP23.

Dame Meg said opportunities for strengthened participation of women also existed through the Pacific Resilience Partnership, which would implement the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific.

Source: Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat

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