Speech delivered by Maureen Penjueli in the Major Groups press briefing at Rio+20 on 13 June 2012

“As a Pacific islander, the Ocean plays a very important part in who we are. The Ocean is part of our identity and culture and defines who we are as Pacific islanders.

We are extremely concerned at how slow negotiations have progressed with many parts of the text still bracketed.

We urge officials to approach negotiations with a sense of urgency given the complexities of threats faced by our oceans including the impact of climate change, overfishing, pollution, ocean acidification and emerging new threats from experimental seabed mining. The impacts of this include threats to food sovereignty, and livelihoods which disproportionately affect women and children in the Pacific.

We call for negotiators to address the structural changes that are needed for implementation. To that end, we support governments’ efforts to push for UNCLOS to be given teeth to make it stronger to respond to the complexities and challenges faced by the management of our Oceans. We owe it to the next generation to leave behind a healthier ocean.

We are in a state of interconnected crises – financial and economic crises, food and energy crises, ecological crises including climate change crises and the resultant impact of growing inequality within and between states which continues to disproportionately affect women and children. It is clear that the root cause of the crises is clearly linked to an endless growth model.

There needs to be a clear acknowledgement in Rio of the root causes of the crises. Unfortunately, there seems to be no political will to confront the endless growth model. A business-as-usual model is no longer an option if we are to avert imminent disaster.

We need new narratives and alternatives that will offer different options for countries to consider how to best achieve sustainable development. There are some governments present here that are supportive of alternative forms and narratives including happiness and well-being indicators but there seems to be very little political space to begin these forms of discussions. We have alternative forms of economic models of development that can offer a new paradigm to respond to our current realities and challenges.”

For information on this press conference, please visit:
http://www.earthmedia-summit.org/events-announcements/MA120613

For the webcast on this conference:
http://www.earthmedia-summit.org/new-events/webcastpressconference13june