FSM drums up support for Global Methane Pledge at Pacific Island Forum meeting
- Admin
- Sep 11
- 2 min read
By Pacific Island Times News Staff
Wesley Simina, president of the Federated States of Micronesia, is seeking the Pacific Island Forum’s support for the Global Methane Pledge to accelerate collective action on methane emissions.
The Global Methane Pledge was launched at COP26 in November 2021 to catalyze action to reduce methane emissions by at least 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.
Noting that the FSM faces irreversible impacts from rising sea levels and intensifying weather events, Simina said curbing methane is critical to reaching the 1.5-degree Celsius target and slowing warming in the near term.
Led by the United States and the European Union, the pledge now has 111 country participants who together are responsible for 45 percenr of global human-caused methane emissions.
Simina's endorsement of the pledge is particularly significant in light of Australia’s bid to host the 31st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in partnership with Pacific Island countries, where the Pacific region rallies to elevate and accelerate climate ambition and leadership.
Simina leads the FSM delegation to the 54th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Honiara, Solomon Islands, where he opened the Smaller Island States meeting and handed over the chairmanship to Kiribati.
The SIS meeting focuses on the unique needs and aspirations of smaller island states within the Pacific Islands Forum.
Simina also participated in the P-ACP meeting, the Pacific subgroup of the wider African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries, engaged with the European Union under the new Samoa Agreement, aligning the FSM’s voice with other Pacific nations on issues of trade, development cooperation and climate resilience within the broader ACP framework.
At the sidelines of the Forum leaders meeting, leaders of the Micronesian Presidents Summit agreed "to speak with a united voice on sub-regional priorities within the Forum."
The leaders meeting continues in Honiara with plenary and retreat sessions, where leaders are expected to deliberate on and endorse two key outcomes.
The first is the “Ocean of Peace” Declaration, a landmark statement reaffirming the Pacific’s collective commitment to peace, security, and regional stability, rooted in the shared heritage of the Pacific Ocean as a unifying and peaceful space.
The second is the Pacific Resilience Facility, to support the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, a Pacific-led initiative designed to finance resiliency projects and enable countries to better prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change, natural disasters and other crises.
The initiative represents a practical and sustainable financing mechanism to address the region’s most pressing vulnerabilities.
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