Britain has pledged to champion Climate Risk and Resilience at
next year’s UN Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, and has
confirmed that its three missions in Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu
will all be free of avoidable single-use plastics.
The uninhabited Henderson Island was recently established to have
the worst levels of plastic rubbish on its shores of anywhere in
the world, and marine plastic pollution elsewhere in the region
is a growing problem. The UK’s three additional diplomatic
missions in the region will be barred from using avoidable
single-use plastics, and will help promote further joint work on
climate change issues in the region.
Making the announcement at the Pacific Islands Forum, Minister
for Asia and the Pacific said:
Climate change poses a clear and present danger to the people
of the Pacific islands like nowhere else in the world. The UK
is already working with Vanuatu through the Commonwealth Clean
Oceans Alliance to tackle the scourge of plastic pollution, and
it is important our own representatives lead by example by
cracking down on single-use plastics.
But addressing climate change needs massive transformational
change and I am proud of Britain’s contribution through the
Green Climate Fund. We will be building on this by working much
more closely with all the Pacific islands through our missions
in the region in the coming years.
The UK is among the largest contributors of international climate
finance and in the four years to 2020 will be giving developing
countries over £5.5 billion to help them mitigate and adapt to
the impacts of climate change.
This will build on commitments made at the Commonwealth Head of
Governments Meeting in London earlier this year which saw the
creation of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance.
The government has today also announced that the Solomon Islands
and Vanuatu are the first of six countries to receive support
through Defra’s £6 million Commonwealth Litter Programme,
partnering with countries in their efforts to reduce single-use
plastics and other litter entering the oceans.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) will eliminate
avoidable single-use plastics from its UK operations by the end
of the year, and from its global operations by 2020. It is the
first UK government department to announce such a ban and the
commitment makes the FCO global a leader in the fight against
plastic pollution.
Notes to editors
-
Britain has in the past had missions in Tonga and Vanuatu and
is now re-establishing High Commissions in each, along with a
new High Commission in Samoa. They will collectively deliver
significant bilateral and regional impact and help increase
UK influence in multilateral fora.
-
Initial estimates suggest that the FCO globally is consuming
at least 3.45 million items of avoidable single-use plastics.
