By Pita Ligaiula
Fiji has called on countries heading to COP31 in Türkiye to turn climate commitments into action, warning that Pacific communities cannot respond to worsening climate impacts with promises and speeches.
Fiji Minister for Information, Environment and Climate Change Lynda Tabuya delivered the message at the closing ceremony of the Pacific Pre-COP31 in Nadi, saying the meeting had clarified where progress was possible but also where political courage was still needed.
“Our communities cannot adapt with promises, and they cannot rebuild from cyclones with speeches.
“From conversation, we move to decision. From commitment, we move to delivery,” Tabuya said.
Tabuya said the Pre-COP had brought Pacific priorities closer to the communities experiencing the impacts of climate change and had placed frontline voices at the centre of discussions.
She said more than 3,000 people had participated in the Pre-COP programme, compared with about 300 delegates at Fiji’s previous Pre-COP linked to its COP23 presidency nine years ago.
“This week we brought the world back here and this time through an innovative partnership and with the voices of the frontline at the centre of the conversation,” she said.
The meeting began with leaders visiting Tuvalu, where they observed climate impacts and the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project.
Tabuya said the *Taku Pakasoa Declaration, meaning “Strength and Unity”, provided a clear message for countries heading to COP31.
“They remind us that our greatest strength is in unity,” she said.
She said ministers had since worked on the ocean-climate nexus, the need to limit the overshoot of the 1.5°C temperature goal and the action required to protect vulnerable countries.
“We leave Nadi with a clearer picture of where landing zones are emerging as well as where political courage is still required,” Tabuya said.
But she warned that the Pre-COP itself could not deliver the decisions Pacific countries were seeking.
“I must not mistake progress here for completion,” she said.
“Pre-COP does not adopt decisions. Its true value will be measured by what happens next.”
Tabuya said the test would be whether discussions in Fiji influenced decisions at COP31, whether new national climate plans helped close the gap towards the 1.5°C goal and whether climate finance reached communities faster and at the scale required.
“Whether climate finance reaches our communities effectively, faster, and at the scale required,” she said, would be among the measures of success.
She said Pacific communities had little room for delay.
“For the Pacific, this has never been simply about negotiating text and processes. It is about a right to a secure and dignified future,” Tabuya said.
Tabuya also stressed the importance of science and traditional knowledge in guiding climate action.
She said Pacific countries had relied on climate science as evidence for action while traditional knowledge had provided additional experience built over generations.
The minister said the Pacific would take the same determination to Antalya that had driven decades of climate diplomacy.
“COP31 in Antalya is now just weeks away. We go with greater understanding, with relationships and friendships strengthened, knowing where the heart is,” she said.
She thanked the governments of Australia, Tuvalu and Türkiye, the UNFCCC Secretariat, Pacific organisations, civil society, Indigenous peoples, women, young people, faith communities, the private sector, academia and the many officials and support workers involved in hosting the meeting.
Tabuya also acknowledged Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and the people and traditional leaders of Nadi for hosting the event.
She asked delegates to carry the experiences of the Pacific with them to COP31.
“Remember the people you met, the stories you heard, and why we gathered.
“This COP draws to a close tonight. Our responsibility does not.”
“From Fiji, we go to Antalya,” she said.
Tabuya also bid farewell to delegates in the Fijian way.
“In Fiji, we do not say goodbye. We say Sota tale. God be with you till we meet again,” she said.
