Tonga Unlikely To Meet Development, Climate Change Goals By 2030 - Prime Minister

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2022) The Pacific island nation of Tonga is unlikely to meet its environmental, economic and development goals by the target year of 2030, Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni told a meeting at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Monday.

"We don't have the resources or the people to go through all that ... We do not seem to be getting any traction for getting any resources to (deal with) the issues we are facing in the Pacific," Sovaleni said. "For us in the Pacific, it doesn't seem to be working for us."

So far, requests for the funding needed to deal with climate change are not up to expectation, Sovaleni said.

"We are facing on a regular basis extreme weather events. We have a cyclone that will destroy half of our schools. It used to happen every five years. Now it is every other year," Sovaleni added.

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced last month $4.96 million in funding to Tonga to address climate change-related challenges.