Cook Islands welcomed a partnership with the United Nations, whose representatives visited Rarotonga last week, to address critical issues, particularly climate change.

This commitment for support and collaboration is a major boost for the country, which is battling ongoing concerns about climate change and facing uncertainty regarding support after the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Brown called for continued global cooperation to address climate crisis and for the global community to fill any funding gaps left by the United States after its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

In an interview with Cook Islands News, UN Resident Coordinator, Themba Kalua, emphasised that last week’s workshop between the UN and Cook Islands agencies was not an end in itself.

Kalua explained that the Country Implementation Plan Workshop was to precisely look at issues such as climate change and to use this discussion to understand the real issues affecting the people of Cook Islands and how the UN can provide support.

“I can tell you that climate change is one of our priority areas in our cooperation framework, and there are several UN agencies that are actively working in the space of climate change to support the Government of Cook Islands adapt to the changing climate, enhance the country’s resilience, because as you know, climate change is the existential threat that is a number one challenge for the Pacific,” Kalua said.

“As the UN, we are very committed to the partnership with the Government of Cook Islands and the people of Cook Islands.”

Kalua further noted that the UN values this partnership and acknowledged the government and all the partners that work with them to deliver on the sustainable development aspiration of the Cook Islands.

“We value this partnership,” he added. “The reason why we are here and Cook Islands is the first country that we are doing this is because we value our partnership and we want to grow this partnership to strengthen it.”

Locally, communities are doing their part with the support of Climate Change Cook Islands, which is leading the way with ongoing training and upskilling to build resilience.

In December 2024, Climate Change Cook Islands carried out a workshop in Aitutaki, teaching participants about climate change proposal writing.

“This workshop aims to build capacity of the Aitutaki community in proposal writing under the various climate change projects, focusing on community ideas that relate to climate change rationale, adaptation and mitigation,” said Wayne King, director of the Climate Change Cook Islands.

The workshop was the first of many that will be conducted within the communities with the goal of working together to build a climate resilient Cook Islands.