Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad said climate change induced relocation of people and communities is one of the most pressing challenges facing Fiji and the island states of the Pacific. 

He highlighted this at the high-level session on “International and Regional Cooperation for Climate Mobility”, organised by the Global Centre for Climate Mobility and co-hosted by Fiji at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

He said the Blue Pacific region is experiencing sea-level rise rates that are two to three times the global average. 

“We need climate mobility solutions that build resilience, uphold human dignity, and ensure safety in these times of extreme climate vulnerability.”

He highlighted Fiji’s Climate Relocation of Communities Trust Fund (CROC), the Comprehensive Risk Vulnerability Assessment Methodology (CRVAM) tool; and the Standard Operating Procedures for Planned Relocation demonstrate Fiji’s resolve to meet this challenge head on.

“Fiji has built a solid national framework for climate mobility. This framework is data-driven. It is firmly community-centred. It is deeply rooted in our cultural values. We stand ready to share these with our brothers and sisters across the Blue Pacific. We stand ready to share these with the World.”

He added the Pacific’s Regional Framework on Climate Mobility unites  island states in integrating local resilience with shared regional goals. 

“This framework emphasises the rights of affected communities, promotes regional data sharing, and strengthens local adaptation capacities. To expand and build on these, the Pacific needs to be able to access predictable – and not ad-hoc and short term climate funding.”

“ The hardest and most difficult part of relocating people and communities is to ensure that this is done so respectfully and with proper reverence. Relocation also means immense, emotional and spiritual social dislocation. “

Fiji called for an inclusive, unified approach that places the most affected communities at the forefront – not at the margins. 

He said the Fund for responding to Loss and Damage is the vital lifeline for effective relocation, adaptation, and disaster recovery. 

“National tools like the CROC Trust Fund commit us as a country to ensuring that relocation efforts are managed through nationally owned policies and are built on our cultural contexts and our traditional values,”he said. 

Tuvalu’s Climate Change Minister Maina Talia called on rich and high emitting countries to take actions now as countries in the Pacific will not just pack up and leave the islands. 

“Our attachment to the land is very important- the Vanua , the Fonua,   that is something the Western countries don’t understand. When they talk about relocation and climate mobility, for them it is a climate solution but for  us in the region, it is difficult for us because our lives are totally attached to the land and the sea.”

Note : This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.