Political Reviews The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2016 nic maclellan Melanesia in Review: Issues and Events, 2016 alumita l durutalo, budi hernawan, gordon leua nanau, howard van trease The Contemporary Pacic, Volume 29, Number 2, 321–373 © 2017 by University of Hawai‘i Press 321 The Region in Review: International Issues and Events, 2016 Debates over climate action, West turn bring complex international con- Papua, fisheries, and trade contin- flicts into regional organizations. One ued as a feature of regional affairs in example during 2016 was the debate 2016, often dividing Pacific govern- over self-determination in West Papua, ments and their international partners. which has brought divisions to both The election of Donald Trump as US the Pacific Islands Forum (pif) and president in November set the stage Melanesian Spearhead Group (msg) for these divisions to continue, given that consensus communiqués cannot Trump’s statements during the elec- paper over. tion campaign on climate change and Beyond the human and economic America’s new directions in foreign cost, climate change and natural disas- policy. ters are also contributing to broader Other global events during the strategic changes in the region. After year—including the Brexit referendum Cyclone Winston in Fiji, Australia in June, international movement of and New Zealand deployed warships refugees and economic slowdown in and helicopters for post-cyclone relief, China, Russia, and India—will have China and India provided fund- significant regional implications. ing, and Indonesian soldiers rebuilt Even as vibrant Pacific diplomacy schools, highlighting how environment saw advances on climate, oceans, and issues are interconnected with wider fisheries policy, the new era of interna- geopolitical shifts. tional uncertainty creates problems for Throughout the year, governments, Small Island Developing States (sids). regional organizations, and nongov- Leadership changes in the United ernmental organizations addressed States and Europe are transform- the diverse economic, environmental, ing relations between allies, creating and social impacts of climate change clashes between European Union (EU) with research studies on agriculture partners and sowing doubt about and forestry (spc 2016), coastal and international treaty commitments on oceanic fisheries (Fache and Pauwels trade, climate, development fund- 2016), natural disasters (World Bank ing, and security. That’s bad news 2016), and climate finance (Maclellan for smaller developing nations, as the and Meads 2016). A United Nations proverb suggests: “When the elephants Environment Program report in May fight, it is the grass that suffers.” estimated that the cost of adapting to Although regional organizations climate change in developing coun- found it hard to forge consensus on tries could rise to between us$280 divisive issues, island nations still billion and us$500 billion per year advanced the regional agenda in the by 2050, a figure that is four to five United Nations. Countries like Fiji are times greater than previous estimates increasingly striking their own path (unep 2016, xii, 42). and seeking new alliances, which in As with Cyclone Pam in 2014, 322 political reviews • region in review 323 Cyclone Winston in 2016 brought by Oxfam Pacific as it launched new home the importance of disaster research on “climate finance after preparedness. Overnight on 19–20 Paris,” highlighting the need for pre- February, the category five cyclone hit dictability, coordination, access, and Fiji’s northern Lau Islands after caus- adequacy of funding (Maclellan and ing extensive flooding in Tuvalu and Meads 2016). other neighbors. While Fiji’s capital In September, Nauru’s President was largely spared the worst effects, Baron Waqa highlighted ongoing there was significant damage in the funding problems for small island north and west of the country. states: “Some international funding In May, the Fiji government issued mechanisms exclude small countries an official post-disaster needs assess- like mine, or prove impossible to ment (Government of Fiji 2016). access because of our limited capacity. Nearly forty thousand people required Private investment is unreliable, and immediate assistance following the rarely available to support basic cyclone, with 30,369 houses, 495 services and critical infrastructure. schools, and eighty-eight health Meanwhile, the most promising clinics and medical facilities dam- financing models for small developing aged or destroyed. In addition, the countries, like direct access and direct cyclone destroyed crops on a large budgetary support, are rarely available scale, including economically vital as an option. This needs to change, sugarcane. Causing nearly f$2 billion so that small countries fully benefit in damage, this one disaster com- from the historic agreements we have promised the livelihoods of nearly reached” (Waqa 2016). 540,400 people (62 percent of Fiji’s In one positive response, the new population). Green Climate Fund (gcf) held its At every possible opportunity dur- board meeting in Apia in December. ing 2016, Pacific leaders stressed that Sāmoa’s UN ambassador, Aliioaiga industrialized nations need to move Feturi Elisaia, who represents Small beyond the targets set by the 2015 Island Developing States on the board, Paris Agreement on Climate Change. said the meeting was “to provide gcf Republic of the Marshall Islands Board members with an opportunity (RMI) President Hilda Heine told to see and experience first-hand the the UN General Assembly (unga) in realities that the Pacific region and September: “We need to do more to island communities are already facing increase ambition, on mitigation, on on a daily basis” (Elisaia 2016). adaptation and on finance. We must The gcf Board approved nearly take every opportunity we can to stay us$98 million for three projects in below [the] 1.5 degree limit needed for the Pacific, but the United States and our survival” (Heine 2016). France also blocked a push by devel- For years, Pacific governments oping countries to increase finance for have been urging donors to reduce the gcf’s Readiness and Preparatory the many barriers that limit access to Support program. Pacific representa- financial resources to respond to cli- tives joined other Small Island Devel- mate change. This message was echoed oping States to call for an increase 324 the contemporary pacific • 29:2 (2017) from us$15 million to us$100 million Over time, changes to US policy annually for this program, which helps on climate and development aid will with the costs of feasibility studies and flow through to regional institu- preparing gcf applications. However, tions. In November, Director Gen- the gcf Board only allocated half that eral of the Pacific Community (spc) amount (Maclellan 2017). Colin Tukuitonga stated: “I think it’s Encouraged by the decision of the important to point out that the USA Obama administration to sign the is a founding member of spc and has Paris Agreement and contribute to the been with us since 1947 and we expect gcf, Pacific leaders watched the US to continue the good work that has presidential election with a wary eye. been done with the support of the US During the 2016 electoral campaign, government both in climate change Republican candidate Donald Trump and other areas” (rnzi 2016a). pledged to “cancel the Paris Climate Coming to office in January 2017, Agreement” and “stop all payments of the new US president made other US tax dollars to UN global warming decisions that raised uncertainty about programs.” Despite later denials and US commitments in the Asia-Pacific evasions, Trump has made statements region. Trump used executive orders describing climate change as a “hoax” to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific and suggesting that “the concept of Partnership Agreement (tppa), a global warming was created by and central pillar of the Obama admin- for the Chinese in order to make US istration’s “Pacific pivot.” Other manufacturing non-competitive” illiberal actions by the Trump admin- (Schulman 2016). istration—on refugees, disdain for As the news that Donald Trump journalists, and judicial review of had won the US elections reached the executive action—will give encourage- November UN Framework Conven- ment to more authoritarian elements tion on Climate Change (unfccc) in the region. Conference of the Parties (cop22) in Changes within the European Morocco, Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Union have also forced Pacific Island Bainimarama seized the moment for countries to maneuver, transforming a gesture that captured worldwide long-standing partnerships. media attention, inviting Trump to Anglophone members of the Pacific visit Fiji to see the damage of cyclone Islands Forum have long relied on Winston: “I want to make a special the United Kingdom to support their appeal to the President-Elect of the engagement with the European Union United States, Donald Trump, for a through British subsidies for sugar or personal change of heart and pub- Commonwealth Foundation support lic change of policy on the issue of for civil society initiatives. Pacific climate change. I am especially leaders have valued the Common- alarmed by reports that you intend wealth Heads of Government Meet- to withdraw from the Paris Agree- ing (chogm) as an opportunity for ment, which would be disastrous for face-to-face interaction with African every person on earth” (Bainimarama Least Developed Countries and Carib- 2016). bean Small Island Developing