The Pacific Islands are on the frontlines of climate change. Their low-lying lands are at particular risk from sea-level rise, traditional fishing is threatened by warming waters, and tourism is also under threat. This month, Fiji, Samoa and Vanuatu proposed that the International Criminal Court recognise ‘ecocide’ as a crime alongside genocide, which could up the stakes considerably.
The head of the United Nations also stressed the threat to the region during a visit at the end of August. António Guterres declared “a global SOS – Save Our Seas – on rising sea levels”.
Pacific nations face “appalling” injustice from climate change, he said, warning that “humanity is treating the sea like a sewer. Plastic pollution is choking sealife. Greenhouse gases are causing ocean heating, acidification, and a dramatic and accelerating rise in sea levels.”
But he also told a meeting of national leaders in Tonga that the world had a lot to learn from their approach to climate change. “Pacific islands are not only climate victims. They are leaders… Many countries in this region are at the fore of ambition and action. And the world must match them.”
World Bank boss Ajay Banga also visited the Pacific recently. In Tuvalu, he said:
“It is so obvious on the ground here that they don’t have a problem with creating emission heavy kind of growth, they are basically suffering from the impact of climate change and what it’s doing to them.”
He later said “climate change, inequality, and fragility” are intertwined.