FIJI’S Permanent Secretary for Environment and Climate Change, Dr Sivendra Michael, has launched the Regional Pacific Climate Mobility Partnerships Programme, marking a significant milestone in the region’s collective journey to address the defining challenges of climate change.
Funded by the New Zealand Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the initiative is worth $NZD17.9 million.
Michael said it is important to acknowledge that all Pacific nations can attest to climate mobility being a reality, and the region must come together with partners to mobilise the necessary resources required to protect the most vulnerable communities.
“Climate mobility is a reality we must confront. It is a challenge that more of our communities are having to navigate,” he said
He highlighted that officials have relocated six communities to date and are currently relocating two more through a planned, community-led, and rights-based process.
Michael noted that when Pacific leaders endorsed the Pacific regional framework on climate mobility and its implementation plan for 2025–2030, “they were really codifying what Fiji and other Pacific Island neighbours had already begun to prove on the ground.”
The initiative builds on two earlier phases of the Pacific Climate Change Migration and Human Security Programme. It is implemented through a partnership led by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in collaboration with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD), the Pacific Community (SPC), and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
He emphasised that the launch is not only a continuation of good work, but also a call for acceleration.
“I want to make a call to every partner in this room, and to our regional organizations, to deepen the technical backbone that this program promises so that countries are truly supported in their capacity to deliver,” he said.
“No one government can handle this complex, sensitive, and often costly process alone.”
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission for Fiji and Sub-Regional Coordinator for the South Pacific, Solomon Kantha, said the implementation plan provides a Pacific-led roadmap for action, one that recognises the preference and right of Pacific people to remain safely in place while also preparing for migration, land relocation, and the protection of stranded migrants when mobility becomes necessary.
“With the generous support of the Government of New Zealand, it will strengthen regional coordination and deliver national action across Fiji, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, while generating benefits for the wider Pacific.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji Greg Andrews emphasised that New Zealand is committed to working alongside Pacific partners and recognises that climate mobility is not just a technical issue.
“We see this program as innovative, responsive, and grounded in the Pacific context,” Andrews said. “Recognizing the complex and dynamic world of climate mobility, the program enables Pacific Island countries to share knowledge and learning through their own experiences.”
Reflecting on the importance of land to the people of Fiji and the broader Pacific, Andrews noted that the pressures of climate impacts can lead to difficult decisions for individuals, families, and communities on whether to stay, move, or relocate.
“The Pacific Climate Mobility Partnerships program is designed to do just that… New Zealand is pleased to support this work.” he said
Dr Michael thanked the Government of New Zealand for its generous support, saying it has been an instrumental partner in this space.
