The National Climate Change Coordination Committee (NCCCC) met for the first time since the endorsement of the National Climate Change Policy (2018) and the enactment of the Climate Change Act in 2021. Organized by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, this inaugural meeting illustrated the strong commitment by all Government Ministries to increase their collaboration and increase the scope and scale of Fiji’s response to climate change.

The meeting agenda spanned a range of issues from climate finance, adaptation and loss and damage to emissions reductions, climate risk governance, and international Climate negotiations.

The meeting was chaired by Dr. Sivendra Michael, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. In his opening address, the Permanent Secretary underscored the importance of the NCCCC highlighting that:

‘I have only recently stepped into my role as Permanent Secretary, but it was made clear to me from the outset that convening this committee was of upmost importance for many reasons.

‘Firstly, the establishment of this committee is required to progress the activities needed to implement the Climate Change Act, and serve the mandate which has existed in various iterations of Fiji’s climate change policy over the years.

Secondly, it is clear that addressing climate change is increasingly a burden on all Ministries and that it is important to use this committee as a vehicle for increasing our collaboration in support of various mutual objectives.

Thirdly, this committee serves as common ground to discuss the challenges we face and will help us to better utilise the Climate Change Division and its services. I say ‘services’ because it is important to be clear that the climate change division is primarily in existence to help coordinate access to climate finance, shape national climate change policies, and improve our access to the information, data, and evidence we need collectively to improve the ability of our policies and plans to address climate risks.

 He added that –

The climate change division exists to serve you and the NCCCC is not about any single Ministries mandate but about supporting all our collective interests and capacity to manage the burden of climate change and disaster events. We know that the impacts are severe and are increasing the cost of development, eroding our resources, and putting pressure on government service delivery.’

The NCCCC is established under Section 12 of the Climate Change Act 2021 is comprised of all Permanent Secretaries and is expected to serve as an important platform for robust dialogue and collaboration on key issues related to Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation, Climate Finance, and Governance.

By convening senior officials across the government sector, the committee seeks to harness collective expertise and resources to develop innovative solutions to reduce the impacts of climate change. Dr. Sivendra Michael stated that:

‘Together, we have great potential to co-design and develop large climate finance proposals and move away from the fragmented portfolio of pilot projects that continue to take up significant time of our officials and often contribute to fragmentation of our efforts.

 We also have a number of cross government policies and plans in place which cannot be delivered by any single Ministry – for example the National Climate Change Policy, National Adaptation Plan, National Energy Policy. Through the NCCCC and– each of you as members of this Committee will have a hand in shaping these policies moving forward and will play a key role in determining the approaches taken to implement the Climate Change Act.’

Moving forward, the NCCCC will play a central role in guiding the implementation of the Climate Change Act 2021 through cross-sectoral collaboration and efforts to mobilize additional resources to support the scale up of climate action initiatives in Fiji.  Committee members welcomed the effort to convene the Committee and re-affirmed their support and commitment for greater coordination and collaboration to address the mounting climate change impacts that continue to place further burden on Fiji’s communities, private sector, public services, and environment.

The next NCCCC meeting is expected to take place in August 2024.