Samoa steps up ahead of Commonwealth meet up in Apia

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Apia will host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The pacific Island nation is excited to make voice their needs on the global stage, this includes topics like climate change.

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00:00Well, the atmosphere here is really buzzing, Gemma, but as you might be able to see behind

00:06me, the weather, at least for the moment, is not playing along.

00:10We've had a bit of a downpour here in Samoa, leaving an awful lot of people drenched.

00:15But spirits are unbowed.

00:16Most people are really excited about this event.

00:19It's just absolute bedlam in the centre of Apia this morning, with motorcades zipping

00:23about, and a sense of optimism when you speak to most people here about what this event

00:28can do for Samoa.

00:30Not only is it bringing a huge infusion of people and potentially a large infusion of

00:35cash into the city centre, most people here are excited about the fact that there'll be

00:39an awful lot of media from around the world, an awful lot of leaders here.

00:43They think that that offers them a really valuable platform to talk about the issues

00:48that really matter to them.

00:49And as we heard earlier from Miles, at the top of that list is undoubtedly climate change.

00:55Tell us more about these main issues that are likely to dominate the week.

01:00When it comes to climate change, there are a couple of things that are really going to

01:03be sharply in focus.

01:04At the top of the list, possibly, is climate finance.

01:08One common complaint from a large number of developing countries in the Commonwealth,

01:12that's not just Pacific nations, but also Caribbean island nations, and of course African

01:17nations, which have a huge presence in the Commonwealth, has been that they simply can't

01:22get access to climate finance as quickly as they need it to deal with the cascading

01:27impacts that we're seeing now from climate change.

01:30So there's a frustration that when they go through big international bodies, it's simply

01:35too long, too laborious and too clunky a process.

01:39Now the Commonwealth has played a role here.

01:40It's mobilised some $350 million in climate finance.

01:44It wants to mobilise another $500 million.

01:47So I think it's likely that developed nations who are a part of the Commonwealth, like Australia,

01:53like the United Kingdom, and like Canada, just for example, are probably going to come

01:57under some pressure here at Chogom, not just over their fossil fuel subsidies, but also

02:03over that issue of climate finance.

02:06Perhaps there might be some demands for countries like Australia to step up with greater contributions

02:11to some of those international funds.

02:13Now yesterday, the ABC spoke to Patricia Scotland.

02:16She's the current and outgoing Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, and she said that climate

02:22change was really the number one issue on its agenda for this meeting here in Samoa.

02:27Let's take a listen to what she had to say.

02:30The thing I know is that we have a choice.

02:36We can either work together, swim together, or we can drown separately.

02:46Has the controversy over Lydia Thorpe's protest in front of King Charles in Canberra caught

02:50attention in Samoa, Stephen?

02:52Yeah, it has caught a bit of attention.

02:54I don't want to overstate it.

02:56I don't think it's a hot topic discussion around many villages here, but some Samoans

03:00on social media, for example, have picked up on that, and it has kick-started perhaps

03:05another interesting conversation around colonialism and where Samoa and the Pacific fits more broadly

03:11in that piece.

03:12Now, as you mentioned, Samoa has made it clear that this is not its main priority at the

03:16meeting, that climate change is at the top of the agenda.

03:19But inevitably, these issues will bubble up again, and I think the protest from Lydia

03:23Thorpe will possibly give it a little bit more prominence.

03:27The question, of course, is what can the Commonwealth or what can the United Kingdom do about it?

03:32Some African nations in particular have called on the United Kingdom and others to actually

03:37make reparations.

03:39That issue seems to be a bit of a non-starter, because Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister,

03:43has effectively ruled that out, along with any sort of formal apology.

03:48But all three African candidates to replace Patricia Scotland have said that they are

03:52in favour of reparatory justice of some kind.

03:55So even if it's only at the end of this meeting, I think this issue is likely to be raised

04:00by Commonwealth leaders.

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