Fiji remains concerned about the existential threat climate change poses to the Blue Pacific.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka highlighted this at the Pacific Regional and National Security Conference in Suva today.

He states that the seasonal patterns familiar to ancestors are shifting rapidly, with more change ahead.

The Prime Minister emphasized that, in the Pacific, the difference between 1.5 degrees and 2 or 3 degrees is still not subtle.

“It is the difference between the habitability of island homes and forced migration. It is the difference between catching your fish and growing your family’s food or being wholly dependent on imported protein. It is the difference between economic sovereignty and fully-fledged dependence on external aid and disaster relief.”

Rabuka says Fiji will continue to deploy humanitarian and disaster relief to neighbouring countries, addressing crises such as bushfires, severe tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis.