Latest content: Commonwealth Climate Change Programme

To mark World Oceans Day, Head of Oceans and Natural Resources Nicholas Hardman-Mountford shares how the Blue Charter can help spur lasting global change towards sustainable ocean governance.

Samoa faced huge flooding in 2018 after torrential rain fell overnight, leaving a trail of destruction, 330 people evacuated and $10 million of infrastructural damage. The lessons learned from this experience made Samoa a suitable location to host the fifth Commonwealth Global Biennial Conference on Small States under the theme ‘Building Resilience Through Disaster Risk Reduction’. The conference brought together officials from 23 small states and 20 development agencies to discuss disaster risk financing solutions.

The Commonwealth’s Climate Finance Access Hub aims to more than double the number of advisers deployed to help vulnerable countries unlock funds to tackle climate change.

More than 500 representatives from governments, non-profits and global conglomerates joined forces to accelerate resilience building in Caribbean countries still recovering from hurricane devastation.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General described young people as the “hope and win” at the COP24 climate change negotiations that concluded earlier in December.

With global climate talks freshly concluded last weekend in Katowice, Poland, some Commonwealth countries are already working towards a stronger ocean focus at next year’s negotiations in Chile.

During the last leg of negotiations at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP24) this week in Poland, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu – an island nation of about 11,000 people located in the South Pacific acutely threatened by climate change – has called on the Commonwealth to leverage its 53-strong membership for climate action.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland is backing redoubled efforts by the Commonwealth family of 53 countries to fight climate change, in light of a sobering report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calling for “rapid and far-reaching” actions to keep global warming below 1.5°C.

What is the Climate Finance Access Hub (CFAH) and how does it help Commonwealth countries achieve their climate ambitions? The CFAH is the initiative by the Commonwealth to support the climatically-vulnerable countries of the Commonwealth in building their technical capacities and improving the flow of finance for projects to address climate change.

While billions of pounds have been pledged to tackle climate change, much more is required to turn the tide on global warming.

“Real experiences” are what drove some Commonwealth countries to take up the banner for the ocean, stepping forward to champion action groups of like-minded members working together to tackle some of the world’s most pressing ocean problems.

Climate change affects women more profoundly than men. Often, women bear the brunt of extreme weather events because they lack economic, political and legal power, especially in developing countries.

Caribbean leaders and senior officials have agreed to accelerate joint action to build resilience to disasters, stressing climate action as a matter of their survival.

The Government of Seychelles in collaboration with the Commonwealth has launched the ‘Blue Economy Strategic Framework and Roadmap’ to build its ocean-based economy.

Commonwealth finance ministers concluded their annual meeting today in Bali, Indonesia, by endorsing key strategies aimed at helping countries reduce disaster risk.

Central bank governors from Commonwealth countries backed a proposal to create a toolkit that will help banks leverage technological innovations in the finance sector to maximise economic growth.

Finance ministers from the 53 member countries of the Commonwealth will meet in the margins of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings this week in Bali, Indonesia, to discuss financing solutions to help counter the risk of natural disasters in their countries.

An innovative new toolkit has been piloted in Barbados to support lawmakers in assessing national laws and outlining reforms towards implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The Commonwealth’s hub for climate finance celebrated key milestones this week, including the mobilisation of £3.7 million for climate-vulnerable countries, with another £135 million in the pipeline.

The Republic of Mauritius will share valuable marine protection know-how with other Commonwealth countries, using the Commonwealth Blue Charter as a platform to exchange best practices, collaborate on research, and carry out training workshops.

The reality is that small and vulnerable states encounter well-documented challenges in accessing international climate finance. The most notable is the complex funding landscape, which has a number of actors and complex procedures.

Youth has an increasingly crucial role to play in reducing pollution and protecting our planet, said the Antigua and Barbuda Minister of Health and Environment, Molwyn Joseph, at an event to commemorate World Environment Day.