Kuma commends climate finance roadmap

Solomon Islands Minister of Finance and Treasury, Harry Kuma has commended partners that supported the development of Solomon Islands Climate Finance Access Roadmap launched Thursday last week.

Key partners in the process included the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, the Ministry of National Planning and Development Coordination, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, Governance for Resilient Development in the Pacific (Gov4Res) Project and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS).

The roadmap document outlines a number of key objectives, which will support increasing access to climate finance, strengthening resource management and public spending to ensure investments are directed at priority climate change actions and enhancing coordination between the Government, development partners and stakeholders with the common goal of achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

Speaking at the launching event, Minister Kuma acknowledged efforts by all partners, especially, UNDP and PIFS for picking up some recommendations highlighted in the Solomon Islands Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Finance Assessment report and the Scoping Report on the Establishment of the Climate Finance Unit.

“The launch marks the great collaboration between different stakeholders toward progress to accessing global climate finance to respond effectively to climate impacts and to become resilient,” Kuma said.

Kuma further highlighted that Solomon Islands is an archipelago that is at the forefront and experiences the full brunt of climate change impacts and the reoccurrence of disasters.

“Our country is experiencing an unprecedented scale of extreme weather events including heavy rainfalls, flash floods, increasing intensities of cyclones, sea-level rises and coastal erosion,” he said.

Kuma said these extreme events continue to hamper and threatens the country’s security, challenge the economy and affected the livelihoods of rural communities including cultures and sustainable developments.

Disaster loses, according to Kuma “can represent a major portion of our country’s gross domestic products (GDP) and impede economic and social development of the country”.

Minister Kuma further highlighted that Solomon Islands alone cannot response effectively without accessing global climate finances to support its interventions.

“Unlocking access to these funds is very important and I urge development partners, line Ministries, NGOs and the Private Sector that our collaborations is very important for a resilient Solomon Islands,” he said.

The impact of climate change and disaster risks remain a top priority for the Solomon Islands Government that are clearly articulated in Policy Frameworks such as the National Development Strategy (NDS), National Adaptation Plans and the Solomon Islands Climate Change Policy, Disaster Management Plans.

The climate roadmap has four main components with two main pillars of the climate finance access and resource management and public spending. It is a living document that will be reviewed after every five years or when the need arises.

Furthermore, an important document that provides guidance towards accessing and effectively managing established global finances.

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