Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s environmental leadership has earned him a top spot on the Foreign Policy’s 10th Anniversary of its Global Thinkers List.

He is listed alongside former United States President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Foreign Policy is an American magazine, founded in 1970 and focused on global affairs, current events, and domestic and international policy.

Speaking to Fiji Sun yester-

day after the achievement was made public, Mr Bainimarama, who was out playing touch rugby at Albert Park in Suva, acknowledged the teamwork that went into making COP23 a success.

“It really is a team effort. Fiji should thank the Fiji Climate Team for the effort, from the Climate Negotiators (Luke Daunivalu and Nazhat Shameem Khan) and Climate Champion (Minis- ter Inia Seruiratu) and each individual team members’ sterling effort indeed,” he said.

“Behind that announcement are the benefits we’ve managed to accrue for Fiji and the region and we have made a commitment that even though we’ve handed over the presidency to Poland we will continue the fight against climate change.”

He added: “Without the commitment and sacrifice by our team members Fiji would have not achieved all we did in our climate negotiations. Thank you, team Fiji.”

The annual Foreign Policy list is determined by considering “the thinkers and doers who had a profound impact on the planet in the last 12 months.”

In its description of PM Bainimarama, the magazine attributes the ranking to his climate leadership both at home and abroad, highlighting both his accomplishments as COP23 President and Fiji’s forward-thinking regarding climate refugees among our Pacific neighbours.

“After coming to power as a military strongman, Voreqe Bainimarama has led Fiji since 2007, winning two elections. He has used that time to establish himself as a global advocate for environmental protection, in no small part because his country is on the front lines.

Under his leadership, Fiji was the first country to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change. And in 2018, Bainimarama repeated an earlier offer of refuge to the people of Kiribati and Tuvalu should those islands become inundated by rising sea levels,” writes Foreign Policy.

The full list of Global Thinkers can be found here: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019- global-thinkers/

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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