In Part 2 of The Politics of Distraction, Steve Sharp detailed how extractive industries in Melanesia drive deforestation and land degradation – and carbon emissions – in a regulatory climate of dysfunction and lawlessness. In a parallel universe, Pacific climate diplomats selectively hector non-Pacific governments for dragging their feet on the Paris Agreement while dismissing…
Month: August 2022
Failed diplomacy in Suva weakens PIF and regional security
by Steve Sharp On the 8th July, Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna addressed PIF foreign ministers and acknowledged ‘the considerable efforts and leadership shown by the Government of Fiji’ since it became Forum Chair in August last year. He made special mention of its ‘single-minded effort to keep our family united’. A few days…
‘Australia’s climate policies are pushing Pacific states into the arms of China’: the false narrative that refuses to die
by Steve Sharp Not long after the new Australian Government launched its shuttle diplomacy with PIF member nations, a contest emerged about how it should see its regional obligations in a fast-changing strategic environment after the Pacific Step-up policy rollout, the acrimony in Tuvalu three years ago over climate policy, and the Solomon Islands signing…