The Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA)
Pacific leaders set out climate and health solutions ahead of COP31
Pacific community leaders have called for urgent action to protect women from extreme heat and climate disasters, and for climate finance to reach the local health systems supporting them.
The calls are among the priorities emerging from a Pacific-led Talanoa, held in Fiji on Thursday ahead of COP31, which brought together lived experience, community knowledge and expertise to determine shared climate and health priorities for the region. The Talanoa was attended by 85 people representing many Pacific countries, including Kiribati, Tuvalu, Samoa, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Aoteoroa New Zealand and Australia’s Torres Strait Islands.
Climate change is already affecting the conditions that underpin health and wellbeing across the Pacific, from safe water, food and sanitation to functioning health services, homes and livelihoods, maternal and child health, mental health, and culture and connection to place.
But the Pacific climate story is not one of a region waiting for others to act on its behalf.
Pacific peoples are rights-holders, defenders and leaders who have driven the global movement for climate justice for decades. They bring knowledge, lived experience and solutions to a crisis they have done little to create.
Those solutions were the focus of the Pacific Climate and Health Talanoa, held behind closed doors in Nadi, Fiji on Thursday, led by the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA) in partnership with the Alliance for Future Generations Fiji (AFGF).
Rather than asking Pacific communities to respond to priorities or solutions developed elsewhere, the Talanoa used a traditional Pacific methodology to put Pacific people at the centre of defining what needs to happen next.
The leaders also called for an end date for fossil fuel extraction and subsidies, and for money to flow to communities who are ready and willing to implement local solutions. “Right now, climate finance doesn’t reach people at the grassroots, it ends up in the pockets of businesses, governments and NGOs.”
The Talanoa identified six key priorities for action by governments and global decision-makers:
- Keep 1.5 alive: Pacific peoples are already seeing serious health impacts from the current level of warming. Moving beyond the 1.5 degree agreement is not an option. In fact, it was already a compromise from Pacific nations when it was agreed in 2015. This means an end to fossil fuels and its subsidies.
- Pacific people know how to adapt to climate change in their region: Put Pacific peoples, including Indigenous peoples, women, young people and people with disabilities, at the centre of climate decision-making.
- Communities need resources at the grassroots: Deliver accessible, predictable, long-term climate finance directly to communities who can invest in locally relevant solutions which suit their community and geography. Right now, climate finance doesn’t reach people at the grassroots; it ends up in the pockets of businesses, governments and NGOs.
- Make Pacific health systems resilient in the face of climate change: Pacific health systems, infrastructure, workforce and essential services are not prepared to withstand climate impacts like floods, storms and sea level rise.
- Invest in nature-based solutions to protect food, water and culture: The degradation of land goes beyond environmental impacts. It affects health, agriculture, water security, livelihoods and cultural continuity.
- Respect Pacific peoples’ legal rights to health, safety and culture: Protect Pacific peoples’ rights to health, safety, culture and self-determination, including control over Indigenous knowledge and data, and dignity in the face of loss and displacement.
The outcomes come at a pivotal moment for Pacific climate leadership, with Fiji to host the Pre-COP and Australia preparing to serve as Negotiations Lead at COP31.
The Australian Government has committed to “centering Pacific priorities” in that role, creating both an opportunity and an obligation to ensure Pacific demands are heard and reflected in the negotiating process.
Pacific solutions, determined by Pacific people
Talanoa is a traditional Pacific approach to inclusive, open dialogue, bringing people together to share stories, knowledge and lived experience and build collective understanding and consensus.
It has been recognised by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a method for gathering information and evidence in the Pacific.
The Pacific Climate and Health Talanoa was a closed-door consultation, with no media present. This was deliberate: creating a trusted, culturally grounded space where participants could speak openly and where the agenda could be shaped by Pacific perspectives rather than an external audience.
Unlike a conventional consultation built around predetermined questions, positions or solutions, the process allowed priorities to emerge from Pacific participants themselves.
Holding the Talanoa face-to-face in Fiji was also fundamental to the process. Trust, relationships and cultural context create space for experiences, knowledge and ideas that can be difficult to capture through conventional research, surveys or consultations conducted at a distance.
The result is a shift in the starting question: away from “what is happening to the Pacific?” and towards “what are Pacific people demanding happens next?”
Chief Executive Officer of the Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA), Michelle Isles, said the distinction was fundamental as global attention turns towards COP31.
“For decades, the Pacific has been described through the impacts of climate change. But that is not the whole story. Pacific peoples are rights-holders, defenders and leaders in climate justice, with deep knowledge of their communities and clear solutions for protecting health, culture and future generations,” Ms Isles said.
“This Talanoa built on over a decade of Pacific advocacy and was shaped through our engagement with women across Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia who are on the frontline of climate impacts. The Talanoa was an opportunity to hear these voices together in the culturally grounded space of Narewa village, home to the Traditional Owners of the lands where the preCOP was held, to collectively determine the priorities they want decision-makers to act on.”
“Health is fundamental to those priorities. Climate change reaches into almost every condition that allows people to live healthy lives, from water, food and housing to functioning health services, maternal and child health, mental health and connection to culture and place.”
“Health and community leaders across the Pacific agreed that the world must move from ‘listening’ to the Pacific to handing over the keys and giving them the authority, resources and space to lead to safeguard health and the memory of future of cultural identity;”
What is good for the Pacific is good for the world
The solutions being advanced by Pacific peoples have significance far beyond the region.
Climate change is placing growing pressure on health systems, food and water security, communities and livelihoods around the world. Pacific communities bring decades of experience, knowledge and leadership in responding to these interconnected challenges.
Their leadership has global relevance. “Listening to Pacific leadership isn’t simply an act of solidarity. Pacific peoples hold knowledge and solutions that can help shape better climate and health policy for everyone,” Ms Isles said.
“What is good for the Pacific is good for the world. The solutions being put forward here, and the way Pacific communities understand the connections between health, climate, culture, community and place, have lessons far beyond this region.”
Australia has committed to centering Pacific priorities
The Outcomes Statement now creates a pathway for Pacific priorities to travel from Fiji, through Australia’s health and political conversation, and ultimately into the COP31 negotiating process.
Australia will serve as Negotiations Lead at COP31, while Fiji will host the Pre-COP, placing Pacific priorities directly before global decision-makers in the lead-up to the negotiations.
The Australian Government has committed to “centering Pacific priorities” through its role.
“Australia has made a clear commitment to center Pacific priorities at COP31. Pacific peoples are now telling us what those priorities are,” Ms Isles said.
“The test is what happens next. Australia has an opportunity to listen to Pacific demands, back Pacific-led solutions and use its role to ensure those priorities are carried into the negotiating rooms where global decisions will be made.
“This isn’t about Australia speaking for the Pacific. It is about Australia being accountable to the commitment it has made and using the platform it has at COP31 to ensure Pacific peoples can speak for themselves, and that the world listens.”
Pacific leadership at the centre
Litiana Lagibalavu, an Indigenous Fijian woman and gender and health advocate with the Alliance for Future Generations, emphasised the cultural significance of talanoa. “In the Pacific, the consultative talanoa process is a crucial step for self-determination. We have used talanoa for centuries to build trust and inclusive decision-making. When it comes to adapting to the climate crisis in the Pacific, evidence gathered through talanoa carries more weight than scientific research.”
Ms Lagibalavu said Pacific peoples carry the weight of their communities when they speak up for ambitious climate action. “We have communities, people, children, mothers whose whole entire lives we are carrying on our back as we come into these rooms. These islands are looking at us to help amplify their voices at a time where they just don’t feel that they’ve been heard. Not just now, but for decades.”
“The Australian government has set itself up as our ally and friend… We are really hoping that this is not performative, that this allyship is genuine, that you truly are in this to help us.”
From Nadi to Canberra and COP31
The outcomes from Nadi will now be taken to Canberra, where they will inform discussions at CAHA’s Leaders Summit on 13-14 October, bringing together representatives from health, youth and climate organisations, First Nations communities and government.
The outcomes will also inform research and advocacy in the lead-up to COP31, including further work on the climate and health priorities and solutions identified through the Talanoa.
At COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, CAHA will coordinate a delegation including youth, First Nations and Pacific representatives, helping carry the priorities identified in Fiji into the global climate negotiations.
This initiative is supported by Wellcome.
What’s next: Voices of Vanua:
13-14 October | Leaders Summit, Canberra
The Outcomes Statement from Fiji will be carried to Canberra for a summit bringing together 40 health CEOs, youth and Indigenous leaders with elected members to listen, share and strategise around Pacific priorities ahead of COP31.
October | Pacific climate and health research, advocacy and storytelling
The Talanoa outcomes will guide further research, advocacy and communications, including deeper exploration of the health priorities, solutions, case studies and lived experiences emerging from Fiji.
5-7 November | COY21, Antalya, Türkiye
CAHA will co-host the Conference of Children and Youth for Climate Action (COY21), bringing together children and young people from around the world to connect, exchange ideas and build their capacity to engage meaningfully in the UNFCCC process.
9-20 November | COP31, Antalya, Türkiye
CAHA will coordinate a delegation comprising youth, Indigenous and Pacific representatives, to build attention and support for Pacific demands for climate justice and health equity.
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