The President of Palau has slammed criticism of the Albanese government’s pre-COP climate summit while in Canberra, warning the measure of the event’s success is “not by who was in the room but by the result we collectively achieve”.
President Surangel Whipps Jr attended Pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu earlier this month.
The event, co-organised by Australia and its Pacific neighbours, faced criticism over its steep $20m price tag and the lack of world leaders in attendance.
While representatives of more than 50 countries attended, only 14 foreign heads of state were present and only two, Timor-Leste and Mauritius, were outside the Pacific.
In a “candid” speech to The Australian National University on Wednesday, Mr Whipps said he had followed media commentary of the event.
“Media scrutiny is important but so is perspective. And while cost matters, so does value,” he said.
Mr Whipps said world leaders and ministers had come to the Pacific “to help shape negotiations that will determine our collective future”.
“Yet some have dismissed the gathering by counting the leaders who were absent, rather than recognising the significance of those who came,” he said.
Mr Whipps said there was “nothing small about” the Pacific and the large ocean areas those countries governed, upon which many nations rely for food and “connectivity”.
“The true measure of a nation’s significance is not how much land it occupies but the role it plays in sustaining our shared planet. And by that measure, the Pacific is anything but small,” he said.
“It is true that leaders of many of the world’s largest industrialised nations, and its largest emitters and polluters, were not present at this pre-COP.
“But the Big Ocean States were. The nations stewarding planetary systems fundamental to our collective future were there.
“And most importantly, we came organised. We came prepared, and we came with solutions.”
While acknowledging the need for the world’s big polluters to take action, he said many of the “Big Solution States” were in the Pacific.
“Australia helped bring those Big Solution States together at Pre-Cop to prepare for this defining moment. That was leadership,” he said.
“Because for the people of Tuvalu, whose homeland is threatened by rising seas, this is no political spectacle. It is their future being negotiated.
“The Pacific may feel these impacts first, but we share one region. What reaches our shores today will reach yours in Australia soon after.
“Some have asked whether Pre-COP was worth what it cost. That is a fair question.
“Here is how I would ask you to answer it: not by who was in the room but by the result we collectively achieve at COP next month.
“Projects prepared. Finance committed. Systems commissioned. Diesel displaced. Benefits reaching communities.
“Hold us to that measure. We intend to meet it.”
In a statement, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Mr Whipps – the chair of the Pacific Islands Forum – would officially open Palau’s Embassy in Australia while in Canberra and renew “a development co-operation arrangement”.
“Australia and Palau are also deepening co-operation to combat transnational crime, including through enhanced policing co-operation and support for customs and border management,” the statement said.
Palau, an island nation in Micronesia, is on the front line of the climate crisis – as well as geopolitical contest in the Pacific, being one of the last holdouts in recognition of Taiwan.
In his speech, Mr Whipps said the Pacific had never had the “emissions to change the world, what we do have is the courage to change the rules”.
“Think of a compass – the smallest instrument on any ship but certainly not insignificant,” he said.
He noted Vanuatu and the Pacific’s pursuit of climate action at the International Court of Justice.
“ … for us, the ocean is not an abstract global asset. It is our food, identity and security,” he said.
“And too often, when the communities safeguarding these systems on behalf of humanity need support, the international financial system offers them another loan.
“Think about the absurdity of that. We ask some of the smallest economies on Earth to take on more debt to protect the natural systems upon which some of the largest economies depend and from which they profit.”
Mr Whipps said the people of the Pacific – whose “courage is not simply part of your history, it is your inheritance” – were not just “on the front line of climate change”.
“We are holding that line. And we are doing so for everyone who calls this planet home,” he said.