Fiji leader ridicules silence as youths call for climate action

Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama at the COP23 Fiji conference in Bonn, Germany on the 12th of November 2017. COP23 if organized by UN Framework Convention for Climate Change. Fiji holds presidency over this meeting in Bonn. (Photo by Dominika Zarzycka/NurPhoto). Photo: AFP. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

NEW YORK, Sep 27, 2019, RNZ. Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama has ridiculed world leaders for staying silent while youths speak up for the planet. Speaking during the UN General Assembly Mr Bainimarama said there had been a lot of inspiring calls for climate action in New York this week, reported the Radio New Zealand.

But he said with a few exceptions most of them have come from young people.

“Young people living in terror at what the coming years will bring but who are choosing to speak out rather than cower in fear. Young people who know a secure and prosperous future remains within reach but only if we as leaders choose to act and act now to save them.”

The Fiji prime minister promised to stand with the youths and to continue pushing for more climate action from the global community.

“Small as we are Fiji will fight. We will keep being a voice for more climate ambition, more climate action. We will continue to advance our case in the great forums of the world not only on behalf of Fijians and other Pacific Islanders but the climate vulnerable everywhere.”

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