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scott morrison
Pacific Elders Say US-China Military Tensions Secondary to Rising Seas
The Pacific Elders Voice Group--whose members include the former leaders of the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati, and Tuvalu; a Fijian ex-minister; and a former congressional delegate from the U.S. colony of Guam--issued a statement saying it "reiterates that the primary security threat to the Pacific is climate change."
"The growing military tension in the Pacific region created by both China and the United States and its allies, including Australia, does little to address the real threat to the region caused by climate change," the group asserted. "These nations have done very little to address their own greenhouse gas emissions, despite statements of intent."
According to The Guardian:
Climate-induced migration has already begun from the Pacific, with people across the region forced to leave a number of island groups that are disappearing or becoming uninhabitable due to rising sea levels.
Last year's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said global heating above 1.5degC would be "catastrophic" for Pacific Island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century.
The former leaders' statement comes amid increasingly tense relations between the United States, Australia, and other allies on one side and China on the other over the latter's recent signing of a bilateral security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
While insisting that Ukraine has the sovereign right to pursue closer ties with NATO and the West, the United States has refused to rule out an invasion of the Solomon Islands if its leaders allow China to establish a military base there.
Meanwhile, as Australian media amplify calls to bomb and invade the Solomon Islands, right-wing Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week threatened that a Chinese base on the archipelago would constitute a "red line."
Firing back at Australian objections to a perceived lack of transparency surrounding the security agreement, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said Friday that, "I learnt of the AUKUS treaty in the media," a reference to the new trilateral treaty between the U.S., U.K., and Australia.
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"The AUKUS treaty will see nuclear submarines in Pacific waters," said Sogavare. "One would expect that as a member of the Pacific Family, Solomon Islands... would have been consulted," he added, referring to Australia's oft-derided description of regional relations, in which Canberra plays the dominant role.
Numerous analysts say AUKUS--which Beijing denounced as a return to a "Cold War" mentality that would "undermine peace and stability" in the region--was the main impetus for the China-Solomon Islands pact.
"The security and future of the Pacific must be determined primarily by Pacific Island countries and not by external powers competing over strategic interests within our region," the Pacific Elders Voice Group said in its statement. "We call on all nations to respect the sovereignty of all Pacific Island countries and the right of Pacific peoples to develop and implement their own security strategies without undue coercion from outsiders."
'A Wake-Up Call to Act Now': Koalas Declared Endangered in Eastern Australia
The announcement by Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley affects koala populations in the eastern states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, as well as in the Australian Capital Territory, and upgrades the species from its previous designation of "vulnerable."
Ley cited "the impact of prolonged drought, followed by the black summer bushfires, and the cumulative impacts of disease, urbanization, and habitat loss over the past 20 years" as reasons for the reclassification.
Rebecca Keeble, Oceania regional director at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), said in a statement that "this decision is a double-edged sword. We should never have allowed things to get to the point where we are at risk of losing a national icon."
"This must be a wake-up call to Australia and the government to move much faster to protect critical habitat from development and land-clearing and seriously address the impacts of climate change," she added.
Deborah Tabart of the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) tweeted that the "change in status is nothing but a token gesture that results in no legislative change to save the koala."
"What we need is a Koala Protection Act," she added, referring to proposed legislation modeled on the U.S. Bald and Golden Eagle Act, which is credited with bringing the national symbol of the United States back from the brink of extinction.
The AKF also slammed the government's decision to not include koalas in the state of Victoria in the new listing.
Due largely to climate-driven weather events--including devastating wildfires--and habitat destruction for urban and industrial development, koala populations have plummeted in eastern Australia. A 2020 IFAW report revealed a 50% decline in the koala population of the northeastern state of Queensland; a parallel analysis by the group found as much as a 61% drop in the marsupial's numbers in neighboring NSW.
Koalas have been protected under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBCA) for a decade.
However, "since then, koalas have suffered relentless ongoing pressure," says WWF Australia. "Land clearing has ramped up, increasing 13-fold in NSW since the government weakened native vegetation laws in 2016. South East Queensland's koala population is also projected to shrink to fewer than 8,000 by 2032."
Protecting habitats critical to species' survival is a key element of the EPBCA; however, according to the AKF, "there are a litany of instances where industry is still free to destroy 'habitat critical to the survival of the Koala.'"
In April 2020, the administration of right-wing Prime Minister Scott Morrison--an ardent booster of the nation's AU$47 billion ($33.5 billion) coal industry--quietly overhauled a mining assessment process to allow corporations, which previously had to find replacement habitats for species threatened by their activities, to pay the government to do it for them.
A scathing government audit subsequently found Morrison was failing to safeguard the environment. Greenpeace Australia said the new policy had "big implications for Australia's threatened species and ecological communities, including our iconic koala."
In July 2020, a report on koala populations and habitats published by the parliament of the southeastern state of NSW concluded that, "without urgent government intervention," the species would be extinct there by 2050.
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Last month, Morrison government announced it would invest a record AU$50 million ($35.7 million) "to boost the long-term protection and recovery efforts for Australia's koalas."
However, green groups said that amount is insufficient, and that the government can't tackle the biodiversity crisis with money alone.
IFAW's Keeble called AU$50 million "a drop in the bucket."
"If we don't address the root cause of their decline, which is habitat loss and climate change," she warned, "we're just plugging holes in a sinking ship."
'A Political Scam, Not a Serious Plan': Groups Blast Australia Climate Pledge
"We need to slash emissions today, tomorrow, this year, and this decade--not in 2050," said 350 Australia CEO Lucy Manne in a statement. "This is the climate policy equivalent of showing up late to a party, refusing to bring what the host asked you to, and then trying to ruin the party for everyone."
Among the principles guiding the conservative government's plan, according to the document, are "technology not taxes" and to "expand choices not mandates."
In an op-ed shared on the government website, Morrison took a defiant stance, saying, "We won't be lectured by others who do not understand Australia."
"We want our heavy industries, like mining, to stay open, remain competitive, and adapt," he added, "so they remain viable for as long as global demand allows."
Reuters, which noted that Australia is "one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases on a per capita basis and a major exporter of fossil fuels such as coal," reported that the government "will not legislate the [2050] goal and instead rely on consumers and companies driving emission reductions."
The plan--issued just days before the United Nations COP 26 climate summit begins in Scotland and less than a week after leaked documents revealed Australia is among a group of fossil fuel-producing nations seeking to water down a key U.N. climate report--came in for heavy criticism from groups like Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
"This is a political scam, not a serious plan," said the organization's CEO David Ritter, who likened the pledge to "effectively just another fig leaf for inaction."
"If Morrison expects to front up to COP 26 with this sorry excuse for a net-zero emissions target and no increase in formal ambition on Australia's 2030 target, he'll be laughed out of the room," said Ritter, and "Australia will face the economic and diplomatic consequences of his failure to act on climate change."
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For Richie Merzian, climate and energy program director at the Australia Institute, the plan amounts to "fraud" if it's not joined by an end to coal and gas extraction and a transition to clean energy.
"The world is gathering in Glasgow in only a few days to increase efforts and targets until 2030, the decisive decade according to President Biden," said Merzian. "The prime minister has missed the brief and is going to COP 26 with an empty net-zero by 2050 pledge with no immediate impact and every intention of expanding fossil fuel production."
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