NEWS

PACIFIC Island leaders endorsed and adopted the Suva Declaration on Friday after the three-day Pacific Islands Development Forum summit.

According to the interim Secretary-General of PIDF Amena Yauvoli, the declaration "is a binding agreement that puts us in the right course" towards the United Nations Climate Change meeting in Paris later in the year.

Below are the following that the leaders are calling for as stated in the declaration.

* Limit global average temperature to below 1.5 degrees centigrade.

* The 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement to be legally binding.

* Establish explicit provision that ensure the strongest possible efforts will be made to achieve and continuously enhance national and global mitigation, including review of mitigation every five years.

* Loss and damage to be anchored as a standalone element that is separate and distinct.

* Special provision to fast-track urgent required to assist the most vulnerable countries that experience existential threat from climate change.

* Integrated approach to transitioning Pacific countries to low carbon transport futures.

* A new global dialogue on the implementation of a international moratorium on the development and expansion of fossil fuel extracting industries, particularly the construction of new coal- mines, as an urgent step towards de-carbonising the global economy

n. Increased support for adaptation measures that address vulnerable sectors

* Adaptation measures for PSIDS to be 100 percent financed.

* Support the establishment of mechanisms for the payment of ocean and ecosystem systems

n. Stronger regulations regarding climate proofing of infrastructure as well as revision or formulation of building and zoning codes

* The development of Pacific based research and technology capacity as an essential foundation for innovation in our response to climate change.

n. Capacity building on formal and non-formal education, knowledge management, with a particular emphasis on national languages and communication of climate change

n. Support to enable the greater involvement of community, civil society and the private sector in our climate change responses and initiatives.