By: Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific at COP 15

December 16, 2009

To many the Pacific is known as “The Liquid Continent!”

Most of the Pacific island states are Small Island Developing States (SIDS) characterized by their smallness, narrow coral- and reef-islands which have very low average elevation above mean sea level. Most of our island countries are especially vulnerable because of their geological formation, and the destructive forces of human induced climate change are already causing havoc in our lives and lands.

The Pacific Indigenous Peoples have considered the developmental impact of not only climate change, but also the flawed solutions being employed to address it. The rush to bio-fuel production will barely dent the developed world's appetite for fossil fuels, but has already made the basic food more expensive in many developing states with contentious implications to food security for our peoples.

“We call for real and genuine solutions to climate change, not false solutions like ocean fertilisation, REDD, biofuels and monocultures for plantations that erode and violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and forest-dependant communities, and destroy biodiversity,” said Fiu Elisara, Samoa.

Bougainville, with a populations of only 160,000 has managed to close and keep closed one of the biggest mines in the world. They have held their ground for a decade with antique weapons and homemade guns. These people have taken on the biggest mining company in the world and won.