Transcript
PATRICIA SCOTLAND: We know that through collaboration, cooperation and better communication, small islands have real capacity to assist each other and we also know that if we come from small nation states [we] have real issues in relation to capacity because of our size and because of our population. The Commonwealth countries who are basically ocean states amount to 45 and a large number of them are of course in the Pacific. So this opportunity for us to come together to look at the Sustainable Development Goals, to create frameworks, implementation strategies becomes even more important as the pressures we face increase exponentially. Climate change creates an existential threat so we understand that we have to better prepare because hurricanes and tropical storms are regrettably happening more and more frequently and we have together craft a better way of responding, for building resilience, to being more regenerative in the way that we respond.
KORO VAKA'UTA: You've mentioned a better way and improvements, a new way of thinking, a new approach possibly that needs to be taken in the Pacific.
PS: It's actually to be taken by all of us. This is a global problem which is being experienced most acutely by small islands in the Pacific, small islands in the Caribbean, in the ASEAN region and therefore sometimes I feel that we are like the canaries that are sent down the mine and we are the first to be badly affected. But the message isn't just for us, it's for all of us. We are a family. We need to share our successes and the innovations that are there but we also need to share together honestly and frankly, those things that have not worked because all of us are trying our best and not everything will work but if we share the things we have tried, it means we only have to make the mistake once and we will be able to innovate and be creative and really help each other.
KV: What type of areas are we looking at?
PS: Well we are looking at how we pull together on fisheries and security. We have been talking about marine development areas, creating framework agreements. The Commonwealth has just launched its office if civil and criminal justices reform so we can pool the jurisprudence that we need. A number of countries in the Pacific are worried about what will happen if they islands literally sink, what will happen about their limitation zones. What happens on their jurisdiction? All of these will need care and attention. Illegal fishing has been a big issue in terms of how do we pool that data, how do we share it? There's some sensitivities about sharing data which are the commercial and other sensitivities. How do we overcome them? Because we know that unless we are better at data sharing, some of the real assets that need to be preserved for our countries and our world, are going to be illegally stolen.
