Pacific needs aid, not spin from Govt

The National Government needs to provide much more dedicated aid to help Pacific countries adapt to climate change, rather than simply rebranding its economic development assistance, the Green Party said today.

The comments follow the release of a new report by Oxfam New Zealand which slams the Government’s climate change assistance in the Pacific. The report shows that the share of aid for climate change adaptation in the Pacific has decreased and that the Government is labelling economic development projects, like tourism and fisheries, as ‘climate assistance’.

“National has chosen to count economic-focused aid projects as ‘climate aid’, despite the projects providing only minor assistance for communities preparing for the effects of climate change,” said Green Party coleader James Shaw.

“The report shows that Government’s climate finance is “rarely allocated exclusively for the purposes of climate change” and that “…climate change is just one of a multiple of desired outcomes [in projects].”

“It seems National is simply rebranding economic development projects as ‘climate assistance’ so it can look like its doing more on climate change when it turns up at international events.

“People living in the Pacific are on front lines of unprecedented rising seas and more intense and dangerous storms. They need our help, not Government spin,” said Mr Shaw.

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