‘Oceania diplomacy’ as concept and practice
Pacific diplomacy: For sustainable peace and security
In a world beset by insecurity and yearning for sustainable peace and security, people to people engagement through diplomacy provides a pathway for long term stability. Cultures around the world over centuries have developed various types and means of diplomacy to suit their circumstances, whether to respond to external or internal security threat. While diplomacy is often seen as a function of the state, the reality is that at every level of society up to the local community level, different types of diplomatic strategies, manoeuvres and norms are used to respond to a variety of situations which are seen to be destabilizing.
THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT: CLIMATE SECURITY IN THE PACIFIC
Climate change poses an existential security threat to the Pacific region and the certainly whole planet. Existential? Indeed, because it impacts on the very basis of our survival including our land, economy, culture, governance, wellbeing, infrastructure, health, environment and everything else in between.
Pacific islands are most at risk because of their physical size and being surrounded by the largest ocean on Planet Earth and are consistently subjected to extreme climate-related calamities including cyclones, coastal erosion, flooding, loss of biodiversity, coral bleaching, drought, fresh water salination and sea level rise, amongst others. They are disproportionately impacted by climate change, although their carbon emission is, by world standard, very small.