'No time for slow progress': Pacific climate warning

The Pacific can no longer afford slow progress on climate change, with Permanent Secretary for Environment Sivendra Michael warning the region is running out of time as Fiji prepares to host the Pre-COP31 meeting in October.

Mr Michael said Pacific nations were joining forces to push for stronger outcomes at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20.

"The Pacific is not in a position to wait for incremental progress," he said.

"We are uniting, we are collaborating, and we are building partnerships required at scale."

Mr Michael said Fiji's Pre-COP meeting, to be held alongside a leaders' event in Tuvalu, would ensure Pacific priorities were carried directly into the COP31 negotiations.

"We will walk hand in hand with Turkey and Australia to ensure the Pre-COP in Fiji is not merely a Pacific gathering, but a bridge," Mr Michael said, referring to incoming COP31 president Murat Kurum of Türkiye and Australia, which holds the role of president of the negotiations under an agreement reached at COP30.

He warned the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius was "on the edge of being breached", with Pacific nations already facing stronger cyclones, saltwater intrusion into crops and sea levels rising faster than the global average.

Mr Michael said COP31 would be called on to scale up national climate commitments, unlock more climate finance for vulnerable countries and formally recognise the ocean as a "climate ally".

Fiji will host the Pre-COP31 meeting from October 5 to 8, ahead of the global climate summit in Türkiye.