New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday told the country's Pacific island neighbors that his government is committed to helping them build more sustainable economies that were resilient to climate change.

"Climate change is a concern for Pacific countries and New Zealand is firmly committed to helping its closest neighbors adapt to and mitigate its impacts," said Key, who is attending the annual Pacific Islands Forum in the Marshall Islands.

"Our total climate-related support will be more than 80 million NZ dollars (62.94 million U.S. dollars) over the next three years, including the 65 million NZ dollars for renewable energy initiatives, as announced at the Pacific Energy Summit in March," Key said in a statement from his office.

"On top of that, our support will focus on areas like developing water infrastructure, and investing in clean and efficient energy generation. This will have positive environmental impacts, but it will also help Pacific countries develop more robust economies by reducing their reliance on expensive imported diesel."

Over the past three years, the government had invested 48 million NZ dollars in practical initiatives to help communities and infrastructure better prepare for extreme weather-related events, such as the construction of cyclone shelters and rainwater harvesting schemes.

"At home and abroad, the government is doing its fair share to address global climate change. We have set a target to reduce our emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. This target is ambitious and goes beyond what we committed to under the first stage of the Kyoto Protocol," he said.

Key's government has come under criticism at home and abroad for pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol late last year and for watering down the country's emissions trading scheme, while embarking on major road building projects and seeking to expand oil and gas exploration. Endi

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)