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Session Detail (plenary)
Plenary Session - Keynote speech by dr. Joeli Veitayaki
Ocean in us: security of life in the world’s largest ocean
Joeli Veitayaki
University of the South Pacific
We sweat and cry salt water, so we know that the ocean is really in our blood
(Teresia Teaiwa, in Epeli Hau’ofa’s article “The Ocean in us ” (1998)
Climate change has arrived. It is the greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific and one of the greatest challenges for the entire world (Majuro Declaration, 2013, Article 1)
Pacific Island Countries (PIC) jointly hold access rights and management responsibilities over 30 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, enormously increasing their sovereign areas. While the new wealth and resources associated with these extended areas are untapped, the burden on the custodians is overwhelming. Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have exploding populations, widespread pollution, uncontrolled degradation of sensitive coastal environments, dwindling reefs and fisheries, and increasing emphasis on economic development. The development of new technology in aquaculture, postharvest fisheries, aquarium trade and renewable energy transition increases the demands for trained human capacity. The Pacific regional organizations assist the PIC with advice, development and environment management activities, education and training on pertinent issues as determined by member countries. Nevertheless, many PIC are vulnerable to conquest by the sea, predicted to worsen with the effects of climate change. Small states are not benefiting fully from their marine resources due to inadequate technical and management capacity, and limited financial and physical resources. These are critical aspects of life in the Pacific Ocean, a unique water-based region, ancient home to voyagers, islanders and villagers, a place where small is still beautiful, but where unprecedented levels of change threaten the very existence of countries and communities. Pacific peoples are observant, adaptive and resilient – traits honed by millennia of close association and intimacy with their ocean and island homes. Those traits have allowed them to live with minute land resources and ever changing island environments for thousands of years. Now, however, contemporary changes such as global warming, acidification, environmental degradation, alteration and loss of natural habitats, loss of territory and boundaries, globalisation and rampant consumerism promise a gathering tropical cyclone or tsunami, of a magnitude greater than anything Pacific Islanders have ever faced.
