Foreign Prime Ministers and Heads of State must have been struggling to keep a straight face listening to PNG PM O’Neill at the Paris climate talks [see story below].
O’Neill had the bare faced cheek to call on world leaders to find solutions for climate change which is threatening the lives of Pacific island people’s while O’Neill himself is failing to take any action on rampant illegal logging and is funding the development of a coal mining industry in PNG!
Why, world leaders must be wondering, should they listen to O’Neill when his own government is promoting the cutting down of rainforests and wants to fuel its cities with dirty coal?
O’Neill tried to tell the world the time for talk is over – but of course talk is all O’Neill has done about the SABL land grab and illegal logging. He has made numerous promises to fix the problem but for almost 900 days he has sat on the problems without actually doing anything
O’Neill, by his actions, has proved he is nor interested in ‘protecting communities or saving lives’ so why does he think anyone is going to listen to him?
PM: Save Pacific islands
Source: The National, aka The Loggers times
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill has warned world leaders to find workable solutions “to save lives and protect communities”, because Pacific islanders threatened by climate change are “running out of time”.
O’Neill, the current chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, said world leaders meeting in Paris must quickly agree on climate change solutions which were “obtainable, meaningful and enforceable”.
“The time for just talk is passing the world by. We need workable solutions that will save lives and protect communities,” O’Neill said.
“It will not be good enough if leaders walk away from the Paris talks without a firm agreement being reached and we know there is momentum and good will to reach outcomes that will save lives and protect communities.”
O’Neill said the effect of climate change was evident in PNG’s Carteret Islands, islands in Manus and the outer atolls in the coastal provinces experiencing the rise in the sea level.
He is scheduled to meet President Barack Obama as a follow-up to their recent meeting at the APEC Leaders’ Summit in the Philippines where the two discussed the effect of climate change in the region.
O’Neill said Pacific island nations were being affected by climate change more than any other region. He is attending the UN climate change meeting in Paris on behalf of PNG and the forum.
“The effects of climate change are real and I will remind the global community, in particular the developed nations, that these effects are real. Our contribution to the global community is more crucial and necessary now,” he said.
