A new report of the United Nations found that the southwest Pacific region faced more extreme drought and rainfall than average last year and dozens of disasters, including two cyclones in Vanuatu. The report underscores long-standing concerns about how climate change is drastically altering life for indigenous peoples of the Pacific.
“The world has a lot to learn from the Pacific and the world must also act to support your initiatives,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said last week in Nuku’alofa, Tonga at the Pacific Island Forum. His address coincided with the release of the report.
The Pacific Islands Forum is the leading diplomatic body for the region, representing both Pacific nations that have achieved independent statehood since World War II and territories that remain under Western rule.
“When governments sign new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future,” Guterres added.
The report said 2023 was one of the top three warmest years on record for the southwest Pacific region. Higher temperatures caused a severe six-month marine heatwave off the coast of Aotearoa, also known as New Zealand, while the two cyclones that hit Vanuatu in 2023 damaged more than 19,000 homes and disrupted healthcare services for a displaced an estimated 185,000 people.
The report’s findings resonate with Brianna Fruea, a 26-year-old musician and climate activist from Samoa. She is part of Pacific Climate Warriorsan organization dedicated to advocating for climate action, and traces her ancestry not only to Samoa, but also Tuvalu.
“It’s almost like we need Western science to confirm what our people have already said just so the world can hear us,” she said.
Fruea now lives in Aotearoa, but when she was last home in Samoa, she realized it was getting so hot that there was a break in rugby. “They didn’t allow kids to play in the field because kids were running out,” she said, adding that it was unheard of to interrupt the sport in the past.
But climate effects are not limited to contemporary culture. In Fruea’s ancestral home of Tuvalu and on other islands such as the Marshall Islands, communities grapple with the cultural disruption of considering the migration of entire villages within their nations. Existing social structures such as chiefdoms are often based on geography and the composition of villages and internal migration have the potential to change those traditional social structures.
“If one town ceases to exist and they have to merge into another town, who becomes the chief? Are they losing that complete structure?” Fruea said, adding that even within Samoa, each town has different rules and regulations, and merging two of them would be culturally challenging.
The report said the amount of annual climate finance in the Pacific region had grown, but the vast majority – 86 percent – was through project-based interventions such as strengthening coastal infrastructure in Tuvaluwhile direct budget support represents just 1 percent. Both Guterres and Fruea highlighted the need for more funding as an urgent concern.
“This is really important because the Pacific is experiencing the climate crisis intensely,” Fruea said. “With the trajectory we’re on with climate change, we need to think about the unthinkable.”
