‘Politicians must back climate change fight’

THE role of the media is to educate and inform as it comes but, ultimately needs  political will backed by resources both monetary and capacity, to assist fight climate change.
Media Council of PNG president Joe Kanekane said climate change was real and in order to have well-informed citizens, it needed the political backing from all levels of government.
Mr Kanekane told participants at the three-day media conference  that governments were responsible for the welfare of the people because they were elected by them and through that process, they have to ensure that the people are given the best.
Mr Kanekane who was also the PNG law and justice sector director, said amongst the many issues we faced, from law and justice to HIV/AIDS, climate change would completely revolutionised the way we live our lives.
“It will not discriminate and it is most definitely not man-made or an attitudinal problem.
“It is nature, and has within its threshold the superior attributes of causing disorder and havoc and death on our door steps,” he said.
The winner of the Asia-Pacific Environmental Journalism Award in Environmental Reporting in 1999 stressed that climate change was a test of man-kind where all forms of government whether it was in the national, provincial or community should now look at it with increased scrutiny.
Alluding to a statement by the head of the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme, David Sheppard recently, Mr Kanekane said any action taken by the government must be linked to the government’s broader development and planning processes putting the communities at the centre of the agenda in containing climate change.