Photo credit: Cameron Diver
“Pacific peoples are the custodians of the world’s largest, most peaceful and abundant ocean, its many islands and its rich diversity of cultures” – Framework for Pacific Regionalism.
Just over a month ago, I was in Nauru for the annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting. There is nothing quite like experiencing the reality of a small island/large ocean state to gain a true appreciation of its vulnerability and the remarkable resilience of its people. In the context of today’s climate crisis, the islands of the Pacific are both sustained and threatened by the ocean. Responding to this reality, leaders in Nauru adopted an expanded definition of human security to include the implications of climate change and environmental degradation. The nexus between climate change and oceans is critical here and ocean science can make a significant contribution to preserving human security from many potential threats such as sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming, salinisation of soils, rarefaction of fisheries or the impact of plastics on marine biodiversity and human health.
Read the rest of this blog by Cameron Diver on DevpolicyBlog: http://www.devpolicy.org/pacific-regionalism-identity-global-ocean-action-20181107/
