Minister Calls For Creative Solutions
Participants at a conference in the Western Division have been urged to consider creative, new solutions that ensure our most vulnerable communities are not marginalised or forced to bear the brunt of climatic disasters alone.
The call has come from Minister for Employment, Industrial Relations and Productivity and Acting Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Jone Usamate during the opening of the inaugural Pacific Regional Conference on Shock Responsive Social Protection Workshop at the Hilton Fiji Beach Resort and Spa Conference Room on Denarau Island.
Mr Usamate told conference delegates yesterday that the need for new solutions was important because climate change continued to wreak havoc with livelihood and fragile ecosystems.
“Climate change represents the greatest global threat we face together: it will require all of us to mobilise and react to ensure we conserve a sustainable future,” he said.
“The most vulnerable in our communities are depending on you. We certainly have the best minds in the room this week, from all over the Pacific and request that you contribute to making this an opening and highly-productive forum.
Mr Usamate welcomed the opportunity to learn from and share experiences with technical partners – the UN World Food programme and the World Bank – who have designed and implemented successful and ongoing programmes in Asia, Africa, Latin-America and Caribbean and South-South learning Forum in Bonn, Germany.
“Thank you for your commitment and we look forward to collaboratively growing our knowledge base. This conference will allow us to identify gaps and needs for support to advance emergency preparedness, planning and mechanisms,” he added.
“My hope for this forum is that it is remembered as the pioneering start of many such annual events that will be known for their visionary, tenacious problem solvers, with a primary focus on innovative knowledge transfer.”
He said a forum like this was highly timely and of great importance to us in this part of the world.
“Fiji is very proud to be hosting this first conference for the Pacific. We strongly believe it is an important step in fostering strategic regional co-ordination and technical practitioner’s network that will undoubtedly help us here in the Pacific advance our social protection mechanism, particularly making them shock responsive and fit for purpose during national disasters,” Mr Usamate said.
Edited by George Kulamaiwasa
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