THE MINISTER FOR YOUTH AND SPORTS
HONOURABLE PARVEEN KUMAR BALA
Address at Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva
Thursday, 18th March, 2021, 3:00PM

• His Excellency , the Pacific Representative of UNICEF ;
• Invited Guests and Dignitaries;
• Representatives of our Partner Agencies;
• Dear Youth Participants;
• Ladies and Gentlemen;
I am honoured to make the closing address to the first ever National Youth Climate Action Summit.

This will bring to a close a historic forum that of course began with the insightful and inspiring opening keynote speech by the Honourable Prime Minister .As acknowledged and widely respected global climate change leader, the Honourable Prime Minister reaffirmed the lead role of our Fijian youths on climate change.

I am pleased to have received the summit resolutions from your representatives just prior to this closing address. I look forward to working with my ministry ,partner ministries and agencies on these resolutions and provide timely pathways for those resolutions so that we can maximize gains from this first ever National Youth Climate Action Summit .The resolutions I am sure are the result of robust discussions and input from all the participants.

I take particular note of the need for continued youth involvement in action on climate change. And I assure all participants that the summit is the beginning of this action, not a stand-alone event for an empty exchange of views. We will have to commit to continued exchanges and the translations of these into deliveries on the ground for all Fijians.

These resolutions and your personal and professional development through the summit has resulted from the exchange of scientific and cultural views on climate change. This has been made possible by the wonderful and thought-provoking presentations by the representatives from various agencies and ministries.

Ladies and Gentlemen and youth participants, as I outlined in my opening address Fiji has a very young population where youths between the age of 15 to 25 makes a third of the nation’s population. As the summit has made clear our Fijian youths play a vital role towards policy making and nation building. Through this summit we have a better understanding of how and why, climate science tells us that less than 10 years are left for the world to make a real change towards action on climate change.
This is not a long period, and the responsibility is on all of us to work towards sustainable inclusive resilient policies and work toward low carbon emissions to avoid the worse impact of climate change.

Already the world is reeling from extreme weather events. Fiji, like other small island states, are among the most endangered as the frontline on which these have an impact. I know we have realized through this summit that it is important to have our young people to participate as agents of change as they can influence wider society to join the fight against climate change.

Youth participants going forward, I’m asking all of you to go back to your respective communities and provide the support to address the climate change awareness in terms of mitigation and adaptation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to extend our sincere gratitude to the joint efforts of our partners to the success of this summit and they are;

1. Our major partners UNICEF, for providing much needed funds for this summit.
2. Ministry of Economy, Climate Change and International Corporation for their invaluable support in terms of presentations and also presenting the climate change bill 2021.

I would also like to acknowledge and thank the following UN agencies, namely UNDP, UNFPA, UN Habitat, UN Women, and UN Human Rights.

Our sincere gratitude to our partners ,including the British High Commission and the SPC -Pacific Community, Pacific Disability Forum and OXFAM and our valued government ministry partners including the Ministry of Waterways and Environment ,Ministry of Forestry ,Ministry of Employment for their varied contributions and input to this summit.

Finally, I would like to sincerely thank each one of you youth participants for your valued contribution to this summit. I wish you all safe journeys home.

Thank you and Vinaka!