As Samoa grapples with rising prices, escalating sea levels, and growing geopolitical tensions and inadequate financial support, the Pacific Island nation has emerged as a beacon of resilience and leadership amid climate change.
During a recent visit, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres emphasised that Samoa is not merely enduring these challenges but is actively spearheading efforts to address them.
“The average rate of sea level rise has more than doubled since the 1990s, the Secretary-General stressed. “Today’s rate of increase is unprecedented in at least 3,000 years and likely, since the dawn of civilisation, 12,000 years ago.”
He highlighted that this alarming trend poses a grave threat not only to Samoa but to the entire Pacific region and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
In Aleipata, where the impacts of a 2019 tsunami were still evident, the Secretary-General observed firsthand the community’s remarkable resilience.
“I have seen people who moved their houses inland and people that persisted coming back and rebuilding. We have seen an enormous determination of people to fight against, not only the impact of the tsunami, but the impacts of the rising sea levels and of the storms and the cyclones,” he stated.
“I’ve seen a wall that is protecting a village from the sea. This wall, which has been reconstructed three times in 20 years because of the tsunami, rising sea level, and heavy storms, demonstrates, the determination and resilience of Samoa and the people of Samoa, not giving up against all odds and making sure that the population is protected.”
Despite contributing only 0.02 percent of global emissions, the Pacific region is on the front lines of climate impacts, facing extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones and record ocean heatwaves.
The Secretary-General underscored the stark contrast between the Pacific’s minimal carbon footprint and its significant climate vulnerabilities.
“Sea levels are rising even faster than the global average, posing an existential threat to millions of Pacific islanders.
“People are suffering, economies are being battered, and entire territories face annihilation.
“The injustice is appalling,” he said, stressing that Pacific nations are not just victims but leaders in climate action.
Samoa’s traditional practice of Fa’asamoa has been instrumental in building this resilience.
“Many countries in this region are at the fore of ambition and action and the world must match them.”
Looking ahead, he called for global support to match the Pacific’s ambition and demanded resolute international action.
“The climate crisis is the gravest threat facing Samoa and Pacific region, and, quite possibly, the world.
“The fate of the Pacific depends on limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius,” he urged.
He stressed the need for major emitters, particularly the G20 countries, to lead in phasing out fossil fuels and expanding climate action.
The Secretary-General also urged all countries to produce new national climate action plans or Nationally Determined Contributions by next year, aligned with the 1.5-degree limit on global temperature increase.
