Fiji Action Plan – ABU

PREAMBLE

We, the delegates to the 4th Asia- Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Summit on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (Media Faces Climate Change: Building Resilient Societies), and the 9th ABU Pacific Media Partnership Conference (Pacific Voices, Pacific Stories: Engaging Audiences in Making Content) consecutively held from 5 to 7 February, 2018 sincerely thank the host country and sponsors, the Government of the Republic of Fiji, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited, Fiji Television Limited, and the ABU, for initiating this important international joint event.

We recognise the outcomes of previous ABU Media Summits (Indonesia 2014, Japan 2015, Thailand 2016, Bangladesh 2017), as well as the 3 global commitments (Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) 2015 Paris Agreement), the AMCDRR (2016) declarations and the outcomes of UNFCCC 23rd Convention of the Parties (COP23) in November 2017.

We also recall earlier ABU Pacific Media Partnership Conferences (Tonga 2011, Samoa 2012, Vanuatu 2013, Fiji 2014, Samoa 2015, Papua New Guinea 2016, Solomon Islands 2017) and their important contributions to supporting the development of broadcasting in the Pacific.

BACKGROUND

Climate change poses a threat to all 7.5 billion people on earth and especially those in vulnerable nations, including many in the Asia Pacific region that are on the front line of the climate struggle. Encroaching sea levels threaten the very existence of some low-lying nations and, in many others, are forcing communities to relocate. The global community is facing a complex legal and strategic challenge in dealing with climate-displaced peoples, or “climate refugees”, who have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere, sometimes in neighbouring countries. These climate-displaced peoples not only leave behind their homes and communities; they also lose irreplaceable ties to their land, their culture and their way of life.

In the Pacific, as elsewhere, climate effects are also dramatically increasing soil salinity and degrading coral reefs, threatening food security throughout the region., Rural and maritime communities are especially vulnerable, as they face dwindling resources, production losses, and reduced income opportunities. This threatens the livelihoods of farmers, fishermen, and, by extension, their families and communities. Pacific communities are experiencing more frequent and more severe weather events, with projections that these events––such as cyclones, floods and droughts ––will get worse in the years ahead. Escalating storms have already brought disastrous floods and winds, resulting in record loss of life, injury, and the unprecedented destruction to homes, public infrastructure and the environment.

The media, all over the world has a vital role to play in disseminating information about climate change and its effects. In the Pacific regional context, radio and television broadcasting organisations are critical to the task of providing communities with timely and accurate disaster- related information that can save lives and property, especially in rural and maritime areas. The ABU can play a vital role in building the capacity of national broadcasting institutions.

Pacific nations have been powerful advocates on the global stage for urgent action and higher ambition in the fight against climate change. They continue to press for innovative projects and programmes, and funding including within the media sector, and continue to seek support for disaster risk reduction measures. With the support of its Pacific partners, the Fijian Government is leading the global campaign for decisive climate action as President of COP23 – the ongoing UN climate negotiations. Fiji is presiding over the UNFCC negotiations and Action Agenda until December 2018 and will partner with Poland – the COP24 President – in the Talanoa Dialogue of 2018.

COMMITMENT

International events, such as the ABU Media Summits and the ABU Pacific Media Partnership Conferences, provide a valuable space for professional broadcasters to educate their peers on new techniques, training opportunities, networking and new technologies that help deliver timely programming to assist listeners, viewers and online recipients to better prepare for major natural disasters.

The Pacific Media Partnership Conference is not only a platform for information transfer but also encourages an appreciation of new global broadcasting practices in areas such as gender and diversity, thus enabling the reflection by national broadcasters of a greater range of voices and communities.

Following three days of rich, meaningful and collegial dialogue in Nadi, Fiji:

• We call upon fellow broadcasting colleagues, especially in the Pacific region, to reinforce their commitment to disseminating news and information relevant to the agenda of the UNFCCC and to stay up-to- date on the subject by following UNFCCC and Fijian Government social media channels, including on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and through relevant hashtags for different events;

• We will highlight the vital need for the Asia-Pacific region to achieve the 2015 UNFCCC Paris Agreement’s most ambitious target: limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This means stressing the urgency of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions within the next few decades, and communicating the regional opportunities of transitioning to net-zero emission economies;

• We will continue our work to ensure that our individual organisations produce compelling, educational, and informational radio and television programmes and develop a proactive online presence to continually highlight best practices and address new and emerging issues in the areas of climate change and disaster risk reduction;

• We will advocate for effective non- broadcast, electronic communication resources (such as mobile phone technology applications) to be developed within our national jurisdictions to enable all citizens to receive timely and accurate news and information relating to emergencies and natural disasters;

• We undertake to establish a Gender and Diversity Plan in our home broadcasting organisations, based on the principles enunciated at the 6th Women With the Wave High- Level Conference held as part of the ABU General Assembly in Chengdu, China in 2017;

• We recognise the need for the most vulnerable citizens in our societies, especially women, children, people with disabilities, the elderly, farmers,fishers and others in rural areas, and those with low socioeconomic status, to be provided with news, information, and programming tailored to their distinct media consumption needs, and to help them adapt to the effects of climate change as it relates to their food security and livelihoods;

• We request that the ABU develop and implement, with donor funding from the UN, multilateral, bilateral, and national government sources, a region-wide training project to enable broadcasters in the Pacific to gain greater knowledge of climate change, disaster risk reduction and other relevant issues. This information exchange will better enable senior media managers, producers, and journalists to address relevant matters in their daily working environment;

• We will review and implement support and training for media employees, especially women, to promote a positive work environment and enhance safety provisions and career development; and

• We will encourage a ‘whole of society’ approach that ensures that governments, civil society groups, research institutions, international agencies and other parties develop partnerships with broadcasting organisations to ensure that professional, accurate and cogent messages on a range of issues are available in a timely manner for public information, education, action and the broader global conversation.

We invite the host of this joint Media Summit and Pacific Media Partnership Conference and the members of the ABU to place the Fiji Action Plan before relevant United Nations bodies, conferences and donor agencies, thus ensuring that the voices of the people of the island nations of the Pacific are heard by those international institutions. We especially ask that the proposal for a regional, high-level training project be funded and implemented at the earliest opportunity.

To conclude, we invite all broadcasters, stakeholders and fellow interested parties to gather in 2019 for the 5th ABU Media Summit on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, and in Samoa for the 10th ABU Pacific Media Partnership Conference.

Agreed by parties to this joint Media Summit and Pacific Media Partnership Conference. Nadi, Fiji.

7 February, 2018