Honiara, Solomon Islands (March 28, 2018) - The Solomon Islands celebrated a milestone this week with the launch of its Climate Change and Disaster Risk Finance Assessment Report by the Hon. Dr. Culwick Togamana, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Mr Togamana said publishing and launching the report actually marked a beginning for stakeholders: a beginning of the implementation phase of the recommendations of the report.
“This country and its partners need to implement in order to optimize access to climate change and disaster risk finance and more importantly manage the use of the resources to address climate change and disaster risk management as well as meet our development needs,” Mr Togamana said at the launching of the report.
Mr Togamana called on government ministries, development partners, non-government organisations and the private sector to support the implementation of the Action Plan outlined in the assessment report emphasizing that “this needs a whole of government approach and more importantly, a whole of country approach because climate change and disaster risks do not pick and choose whom they will affect – they affect us all”.
The endorsement and launch of the report will contribute to the Government of the Solomon Islands’ access to climate change and disaster risk finance as it demonstrates the country’s commitment towards strengthening its systems, to improve donor confidence as far as engaging with the Solomon Islands is concerned. Stronger national systems should ideally, by extension, be a catalyst for the full realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat led the in-country climate change and disaster risk finance assessment which was undertaken by a multiagency team from the Pacific Community (SPC); the USAID/SPC Institutional Strengthening for Pacific Island Countries to Adapt to Climate Change (ISACC) Project; the DFAT/GIZ Climate Finance Readiness for the Pacific Project; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Risk Resilience Programme (PRRP); the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC). 
For more information: media@forumsec.org
