The Fiji Mission to the United Nations participated today in the call by the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) at the UN General Assembly for action by the Security Council on Climate Change.  The PSIDS group has sent a letter today to members of the UN Security Council calling on the Council to urgently begin consideration of the threats to international security posed by climate change.

The PSIDS group at the UN is made up of the Missions of Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The letter echoes the words of the UN Secretary-General who has stated that the international community must anticipate and prepare itself to address a number of largely unprecedented challenges posed by Climate Change for which existing mechanisms may prove inadequate.  Given the seriousness of the threats posed by Climate Change, the PSIDS group has called on the Security Council to support their call to action and begin work at once on the enormous task ahead.

Speaking in support of today's PSIDS initiative, Fiji's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Peter Thomson, said Climate Change issues were the shared top priority of the PSIDS group, and that they were at the core of the Fiji Mission's work in 2010 and the years ahead.