Tonga's Parliament Speaker warns of worsening climate crisis

As climate change accelerates, the situation will worsen, said Fatafehi Fakafanua, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga, Report informs.

Fakafanua made the announcement at the session titled "Understanding the Real Impact of Climate Change" at the Parliamentary Meeting in COP29's Green Zone.

According to him, it is possible to reduce the impacts of climate change: "However, this requires financial and technical support. Currently, we are on the threshold of global temperature rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius. If we continue at this pace, the situation will worsen and global temperature rise might even approach 3 degrees Celsius. Therefore, legislative bodies should try to prevent this through the laws they adopt."

The speaker highlighted that the situation is not encouraging for small islands either, and adaptation is slow:

"Entertainment is prioritized over loss and damage. Year after year, we face extreme heatwaves. We are relocating people from islands that are below sea level, but there isn't enough funding to improve their conditions. Due to the ocean level rising, land is flooded, palms are destroyed. We cannot cultivate many plants. If the situation continues like this, what will we eat?!"