Seni Nabou is the Pacific Political Advisor in our Suva office. In this post, she shares her views of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) outcome.

Seeing the outcomes of yesterday’s PIF Communique on climate change was like a nightmare where you dream that your child is walking steadily towards a burning fire and you can’t move or scream out to warn them. The bad dream is so real you wake up crying.

It was that bad. It was that depressing. The PIF outcome on climate change is essentially a death warrant for Pacific Islanders. But if Australia and New Zealand think we will give up and slink away in the shadows defeated, we remain even more determined than ever, simply because the lives, identities and the future of our Pacific people, many of whom we had the privilege of spending time with during our Pacific Ship Tour, depend on it. Copenhagen is too important. The outcomes of Copenhagen will hand down a verdict about whether our Pacific and every essence of Pasifika lives or dies. The stakes are too high. I cannot and will not stand by and know that at this critical juncture I did not give a 200% effort to change the script.

The truth of the matter is that neocolonialism was the order of the day in Cairns. It was evident in Kevin Rudd’s opening statement said it,  and I quote:

“we are playing our part in international gatherings – including by representing the interests of the Pacific island nations – in other international fora where Australia participates, including the G20.”

That’s very gracious Mr Rudd. But who in the Pacific elected you to represent us at the G20? Who appointed you Sheriff of our Pacific county?

The other NGOs present in Cairns, like Friends of the Earth and Oxfam, are also up in arms. So too are the Pacific media.

At a public event on the Cairns Esplanade last Sunday and I spoke about the sheer gravity of what was at stake for us Pacific Islanders. I made the link to the 1948 Geneva Convention and the bringing together of the world’s countries. It took the atrocities of the second World War for countries to resolve “Never Again” – and form the family of the United Nations.

We are at a similar juncture now. The atrocities of the big fossil fuel industries like the “Goliath” Australian coal industry against us small, vulnerable “David” countries are continuing. And we are allowing it. The question however is: Will we be content to wake up in January 2010 wringing our hands and saying “Never Again”, when we know there are but 21 negotiating days in December to change that script and use every non-violent means possible to express our refusal to shorten our existence as Pasifika?

The outcomes that were agreed to yesterday were woefully inadequate and downright scandalous. Pacific leaders – at the behest of Australia and New Zealand – agreed to lower targets and to a longer time-frame in which to continue “business as usual”. Some of us will not even be alive in 2050. Essentially what was agreed was that were happy to drown and be pummelled by more severe and frequent natural disasters faster and we are given a pittance of $25 million or so to appease us.

The title of the Annex says “Pacific Leaders Call to Action on Climate Change”. It gives the impression that it was a call made by Pacific leaders. A more accurate title would have been “Forum Leaders Call to Action”.

It makes a total mockery of our international AOSIS calls.

We might as well start taking down our country flags at the UN Headquarters in New York right now.

Many Pacific Islanders in positions of regional influence are also allowing it. For me that is the deepest stab to the heart.

Greenpeace cannot do it alone. It will take every individual in our Pacific countries to dig their heels in and show the world our refusal to die faster. Mother Nature will be our witness.

It will take only the bold and it will take Pacific warriors. History is being written every day in the lead up to Copenhagen and we all need to understand this North-South debate in relation to climate change. We all need to take a position and fight for it.

Ignorance and apathy is no longer an option.

A gross injustice against all global small island states is occurring. And we can only stop it together.

The fate of Pasifika people must never be a bargaining chip. It is atrocious that the political process of PIF has made us that expendable.