Naoero President David Adeang has challenged world leaders to move beyond climate pledges and deliver finance, emissions cuts and practical action for Pacific communities already facing the impacts of climate change.
Speaking at the Pacific Pre-COP31 Leaders’ Plenary in Denarau, after leaders spent a day and a half in Tuvalu, Adeang said the experience should force governments to assess whether global climate commitments were reaching the people most exposed to climate change.
“What was seen in Tuvalu today should trouble every leader in the room.
“Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Naoero, and our Pacific neighbours are not facing a distant or theoretical threat. We are already living with the real consequences of climate change today,” Adeang said.
Adeang said rising seas, drought and disasters were putting Pacific communities under growing pressure, while climate negotiations had produced decades of commitments without enough delivery.
“The seas are rising against our homes, drought is draining our water, and a single disaster can undo years of progress,
“And still, our communities wait. For three decades, the COPs have produced pledges and promises, yet words and delivery have fallen short of what our communities need,” he said.
He questioned whether the resources being spent on hosting international climate meetings could be better directed towards climate action and frontline communities.
“Perhaps it is time to ask also whether we should continue investing such substantial resources in hosting pre-COPs and COPs, when those resources could instead be directed towards climate action and the communities on the front lines.
“If our objective is delivery, then the resources must follow,” Adeang said.
Adeang said Pacific resilience should not become an excuse for the international community to expect island states to continue absorbing climate impacts.
“The Pacific has shown resilience for generations, but that resilience must never become the reason that the world expects us to endure,” he said.
Naoero supports the Taku Pakasoa Declaration, which Pacific leaders are expected to sign ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, but Adeang said signing another declaration must be matched by measurable action.
“Naoero supports the Taku Pakasoa Declaration and its call for urgent action, but we have signed many declarations and our people too often see little change.
“Signing carries a responsibility to act,” he said.
Adeang called on Pacific institutions and regional agencies to set clear commitments, timelines and reporting mechanisms to track progress.
“I challenge this platform and our very own regional agencies to lead with clear commitments, timelines and reporting on progress so that we hold ourselves and our partners to account,” he said.
For COP31, Adeang said delivery must include immediate emissions reductions, full implementation of the Paris Agreement and action to keep the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach.
“The Pacific is already beyond mitigation.
“Adaptation must advance alongside a rapid, large-scale transition to renewable energy,” he said.
Adeang said the Pacific also needed climate finance that was accessible and suited to the circumstances of small island developing states.
He highlighted complicated procedures, reporting requirements and delays in approvals and disbursements as barriers to finance reaching communities.
“Announcing finance is not the same as delivering it.
“We need requirements that are realistic, proportionate and aligned with the institutional capacity and circumstances of each country, particularly SIDS,” he said.
Adeang said the terms of climate finance were also important, arguing that vulnerable island countries should not be pushed further into debt as they respond to a crisis they did not create.
“For vulnerable island countries, climate finance must not compound the burdens of a crisis we did not create,” he said.
He also called for vulnerability assessments to go beyond income levels, saying economic indicators alone did not reflect the risks faced by countries such as Nauru.
“Income alone cannot capture the realities facing Naoero,” Adeang said.
“The Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) should inform who is eligible for climate finance, on what terms and at what scale. If our progress is recognised, our vulnerability must be recognised too.”
Adeang highlighted the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) as an example of the region developing its own climate finance response through grants that support community resilience without increasing national debt.
“Naeoro is not speaking of Pacific leadership, we are demonstrating it through action,” he said.
“Though we are small, we have contributed from our own resources to this facility. Because leadership should be measured not by what is said, but by what we are prepared to do.”
He called on international partners to fully capitalise the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) rather than stop at financial pledges.
“For many of our people, the ocean is central to our future,” Adeang said.
He urged COP31 to advance ocean-based climate action and support communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems.
Adeang also called for progress on international rules governing ocean resources, saying countries pursuing responsible use of those resources should not be disadvantaged by delays in reaching agreement.
As Pacific leaders prepare to take the Taku Pakasoa Declaration to COP31, Adeang said the region’s communities should remain at the centre of the negotiations.
“We must be able to tell our children that COP31 was different, that leaders heard us and answered with action they can see and they can feel,” he said.
The Pacific Pre-COP31 Leaders’ event in Tuvalu and Fiji is designed to consolidate Pacific priorities ahead of COP31 in Antalya, with climate finance, keeping 1.5°C within reach, ocean-climate action and renewable energy among the key issues.
