Papua New Guinea Withdraws From Climate Summit: "A Total Waste Of Time" Per Nation's Foreign Minister

Papua New Guinea’s decision to pull out of an upcoming UN global climate summit due to frustration over “empty promises and inaction” has prompted concern from climate advocates, who fear the move will isolate the Pacific nation and put vital funding at risk. Prime minister James Marape announced in August the country would not attend Cop29 in “protest at the big nations” for a lack of “quick support to victims of climate change”. Then last week, foreign affairs minister Justin Tckatchenko, confirmed Papua New Guinea would withdraw from high-level talks at the summit, which begins on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan, describing it as “a total waste of time”.

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Marape and Tckatchenko criticised the Cop meetings for failing to deliver enough support for small island nations. Tckatchenko said Papua New Guinea will send a small delegation of government officials but ministers will not attend for high-level discussions. “We will no longer tolerate empty promises and inaction, while our people suffer the devastating consequences of climate change,” Tckatchenko said at a meeting of small island states in Samoa last week. He added that “nothing concrete has come out of such major multilateral meetings.”

“The last three Cop meetings have gone around in circles, producing no tangible results for small island states. Cop29 will be no different, so Papua New Guinea will not participate at the political level,” Tckatchenko said. “The international community has shown a total lack of respect for countries like ours that play a crucial role in mitigating climate change. We are tired of being sidelined.”

Small island countries, including those in the Pacific, are hoping better access to climate finance will be addressed this month in Azerbaijan. But Tckatchenko said big emitters and large countries have failed in providing support to small island states, who are at the frontline of the climate crisis.

“The pledges made by major polluters amount to nothing more than empty talk. They impose impossible barriers for us to access the crucial funds we need to protect our people,” he said.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/08/png-cop29-papua-new-guinea-un-climate-summit