Pacific leaders, ministers, diplomats and civil society delegates converged on Nadi this week for the Pacific Pre-COP31, a climate meeting running from 5 to 8 October that Australia is co-hosting with Fiji and Tuvalu. A separate Leaders’ event was staged in Tuvalu on 5 and 6 October, with the main leaders’ plenary held in Fiji on Tuesday, according to Pacific Media Network.
Key facts
- The Pacific Pre-COP runs 5–8 October in Nadi; the Tuvalu Leaders’ event ran 5–6 October, the Australian Prime Minister’s office says.
- More than 50 countries and thousands of decision makers, experts and advocates were expected to take part, according to the same statement.
- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled to Fiji and Tuvalu from 5 to 7 October — his fourth official visit to Fiji and first to Tuvalu.
- Australia secured the role of COP31 President of Negotiations at COP30, along with agreement to deliver a Pacific-hosted Pre-COP including a special Leaders’ event.
- Pacific Media Network reports concern over the limited number of major world leaders expected to attend.
- Fiji’s Minister for Information, Climate Change and Environment, Lynda Tabuya, is leading the host country’s preparations.
Why it matters
The Nadi gathering is the Pacific’s set-piece chance to shape the agenda before negotiators move to COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, in November. Pacific Media Network reports that the region’s message is for action rather than more promises, with demands focused on stronger climate finance, action on fossil fuels and defending the 1.5°C target.
Tabuya framed the host role as a way of embedding the region’s circumstances in the formal process. “We have an opportunity here in pre-COP to anchor global climate diplomacy in our Pacific reality,” she told Pacific Media Network, adding that the Pacific must be at the centre and not at the margins of global climate decision-making.
What Fiji is pushing for
Tabuya said Fiji will press for the connection between oceans and climate change to be recognised in the negotiations ahead of COP31, and that the region’s experience, science and Indigenous knowledge should help shape global climate solutions. She described the week as a moment for the Pacific to shine and raise its voice.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka used an interfaith church service the day before the meeting to call on visiting leaders to see and listen to people on the climate frontlines, Asia Pacific Report reports. He said climate finance must reach the communities that need it “not someday, but now, and as an act of justice, not charity”, and that the Pacific carries a burden it did not create. In earlier remarks, Rabuka has argued that climate inaction is a choice with a human face.
Alongside the diplomacy, Fiji used the Nadi meeting to launch an FJD$5.2m carbon market plan.
Australia’s co-host role
Albanese said Australia was proud to stand with its Pacific family and co-host the events with Fiji and Tuvalu, “putting our region’s priorities on the world stage”, according to his office’s statement. He said the work builds on efforts to boost stability, security and prosperity in the region, which he described as crucial to Australia’s national interest, and that Pre-COP would let the world hear directly from those on the front line.
His office describes COP31 as the global forum accelerating the clean energy transition and action to reduce emissions, and says Pre-COP will lay the foundations for the Antalya negotiations while elevating Pacific priorities.
Campaigners and other Pacific voices
Amnesty International, the global human rights organisation, says governments must now back their climate commitments with action. Its Secretary-General, Agnès Callamard, said the absence of some world leaders should not become an excuse for inaction: “World leaders have spent years talking about the climate threats facing the Pacific. Now they must come to Fiji and Tuvalu, listen to Pacific communities and act.” She said concern without action will not hold back the tide.
Amnesty is calling for a move away from fossil fuels, more grants-based climate finance, and a greater say for the communities most affected. It wants Australia and other high-emitting countries to increase public, grants-based funding for adaptation, mitigation and loss and damage without pushing lower-income countries further into debt, Pacific Media Network reports. The organisation also warned that people challenging damaging projects can face intimidation, violence and restrictions on peaceful protest.
Palau’s climate change coordinator, Xavier Matsutaro, told Pasifika TV ahead of the meeting that major greenhouse gas emitters should apologise for causing loss and damage, saying that when harm is caused between people the appropriate thing to start with is an apology and that the dialogue has not happened at all. The theme also surfaced in an apology-themed advertisement that greeted delegates arriving in Fiji.
How the week opened
Pacific leaders and delegations gathered in Nadi for a church service on Monday, The Australia Today reports, with Revd Charissa Suli, President of the Uniting Church in Australia, saying: “In the Pacific, this is where we begin — we pray, we listen to the Word of God.” Asia Pacific Report dates an interfaith service to the day before the meeting began, and says regional leaders, ministers, diplomats, faith leaders, youth, civil society organisations, NGOs, community members and children attended. Fijian children also performed at the summit’s opening in Nadi, Pacific Media Network reports. Niue Prime Minister Dalton Tagelagi was among the leaders arriving.
The Tuvalu leg was designed to highlight climate change’s impacts on the island nation and how Tuvaluans are responding, according to the Australian statement. In Fiji, The Australia Today points to Vunidogoloa, a remote village in the north that was relocated to higher ground after rising sea levels and changing conditions made coastal life increasingly difficult — a case it describes as an example of climate adaptation and community resilience in the Pacific.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is COP31 itself being held?
COP31 will be held in Antalya, Türkiye. Asia Pacific Report gives the dates as 9 to 20 November, with Australia serving as president of negotiations.
Why is the Pacific hosting only the Pre-COP and not COP31?
Asia Pacific Report says the joint Australia–Pacific bid to host COP31, the United Nations annual climate summit, lost out to Türkiye. It was then agreed that the Pacific would host the pre-COP meeting instead.
Who travelled with Prime Minister Albanese, and who is running Australia while he is away?
According to the Australian Prime Minister’s office, Albanese was joined by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Kate Thwaites. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles is Acting Prime Minister until Albanese returns.
How much does Tuvalu contribute to global emissions?
Amnesty International, cited by Pacific Media Network, says Tuvalu contributes less than 0.003 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. It says rising seas, extreme heat, drought and saltwater intrusion are nonetheless threatening access to water, food, housing and other basic rights there.
