Secretary-General Guterres meets PIF Leaders and Secretariat, September 2023. UN Photo/Mark Garten
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was founded in 1971 and currently has a membership of 18 states and territories. As part of its cooperation with regional organizations, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs has been increasing its cooperation with the PIF Secretariat to address the unique challenges facing the region, including peace and security, governance, climate change, sustainable development/2030 agenda, gender equality and youth empowerment.
DPPA continues to partner with PIF, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), as well as the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), to support national and regional peacebuilding objectives. In 2023 this included convening environmental peacebuilding dialogues with PIF Ambassadors to the UN to discuss different aspects of the climate change and security nexus affecting small states. For example, in May 2023 DPPA convened an informal exchange on developing gender-sensitive responses to climate-related security challenges in the Pacific. In 2022, DPPA supported the Peacebuilding Fund, UNDP and IOM on the Climate Security in the Pacific pilot project, in close coordination with local communities and Governments in three atoll nations (Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands and Tuvalu). The project undertook inclusive consultations to identify the most pressing climate-related security risks, including through an embedded environmental peacebuilding expert in the PIF Secretariat. Pilot briefs for the three initial countries can be found here and a phase two is being developed. In April 2021, an online discussion on the nexus of climate-related security risks and human rights in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) took place involving governments, experts and UN partners. In May 2019, DPPA in partnership with OHRLLS hosted a workshop on Climate Change, Conflict Prevention and Sustainable Peace: Perspectives from the Pacific. The summary report of the workshop is available here.