WelCom October 2019:
Amanda Gregan
On 19 September 2019, members of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand presented an oral submission to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee Inquiry into Aid in the Pacific. Their submission centred on three key areas from first-hand experience: New Zealand’s strong relationships in the Pacific, climate funding and climate migration.
Julianne Hickey, Director of Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, emphasised the importance of relationships with our Pacific neighbours. ‘New Zealand’s influence will come from being a trusted partner, which brings independent thinking and an intelligent consideration of local contexts. These relationships will be built on a firm foundation of authenticity, equality and trust.’
Caritas also challenged existing mechanisms for distribution of global Climate Change funding. ‘We are concerned global climate finance is not getting to the grassroots communities where it is most needed. Simply pouring billions of dollars into global climate funds doesn’t appear to be working in the Pacific,’ said Mrs Hickey.
Caritas cited examples from Caritas Tonga where local organisations had found it difficult to access funding for water tank refurbishment. Caritas asked wealthier countries of the region, such as Australia and New Zealand, to meet their long-standing international commitment of investing 0.7 per cent of GDP on Aid. The current figure stands at 0.28 per cent.
‘This is about honouring our commitment as a nation. New Zealand has a reputation for being a keen participant in the international community – as well as being a generous nation. But in government spending on Aid we still have some way to go for the reality to match the vision,’ Mrs Hickey said.
Caritas also discussed climate migration, emphasising this is not a future issue. They cited the people in the Carteret Islands who have faced the issue of climate migration for some years. They expressed the need to find new ways, based on relationships of trust, of grappling with these complex issues through incremental improvements, which won’t always meet traditional paradigms of risk assessment.
Seeds of Hope: Caritas State of the Environment for Oceania Report 2019
Calls for all to take responsibility for planet wellbeing