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Fiji PM calls on Trump to avoid climate calamity
November 19, 2016, 3:53 pm

Fiji's Bainimarama has invited Trump to his country to view for himself how climate change is affecting many nations and could lead to calamity [Xinhua]

Fiji’s Bainimarama has invited Trump to his country to view for himself how climate change is affecting many nations and could lead to calamity [Xinhua]


World leaders are hoping to influence future US foreign policy on all things from climate control to NATO affiliation to trade now that Donald Trump has won the US presidential election and has hinted at a radical shift way from multilateralism in a retreat from global affairs.

On Friday, Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama called on US President-elect Donald Trump to abandon the view that global warming was a “hoax”, at the closing plenary of the 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) in Marrakesh.

Fiji will serve as the President of the next the COP23 conference which will be held in Germany.

“We must act more decisively and avert catastrophe,” Bainimarama said.

“As the second biggest carbon emitter on earth, the United States must take responsibility for contributing to our collective response to this crisis and show leadership at this critical stage.”

The Prime Minister also invited Trump to visit Fiji and witness first-hand the effects of climate change.

Meanwhile, the 200 countries at the COP22 in Marrakesh appeared to haggle last-minute over finances and a crucial fund established to help poorer and emerging economies to cope with the costs of reducing carbon emissions and going green.

One sticking point was the Adaptation Fund, a remnant of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (predecessor to the Paris Agreement) in which the fund was earmarked to to financing adaptation concrete projects.

Developing nations want a clear and fair policy on funding to help them cope in the years to come. They say current wording favors developed countries.

There has been no real resolution to the issue of finances, but the delegates have pledged to continue discussions.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies