In this bulletin:
2. PACIFIC — Climate science becomes a battleground at COP31 as Pacific warns against weakening 1.5°C ambition
3. PACIFIC — ‘Find money for life, not death,’ Republic of Marshall Islands President appeals at COP31
4. PACIFIC — Every fraction of a degree counts – Federated States of Micronesia
5. PACIFIC— Australia takes the world stage at COP31 – but fails to mention the transition away from fossil fuels
6. PACIFIC— Climate harm is here – Pacific communities
7. PACIFIC — Australia talks hard line on climate but doubts remain
8. VAN — More than 1,300 Diplomatic Passports missing in Vanuatu, report finds
9. FIJI — NFP leader Biman Prasad walks free as court dismisses two charges
10. COOKS — Repatriation options exhausted for stranded Sri Lankan woman in Cook Islands
11. PACNEWS BIZ — Declare side hustle: Fiji Revenue and Customs Service
12. PACNEWS BIZ — Fiji Opposition MP Kumar accuses Government of being unprepared for El Niño crisis
13. PACNEWS IN FOCUS — Follow the money: where Pacific scam losses go, and how to get in the way
14. PACNEWS DIGEST — Fiji Petrel eludes 10-day search as communities aim to protect Bird’s Habitat: New Study
15. PACNEWS DIGEST — Climate diplomacy praises Indigenous knowledge but withholds power
UN – COP31: PACNEWS PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
UN climate chief Stiell urges countries to act on methane, warning of economic and climate costs
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS)—UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell has urged countries to accelerate cuts in methane and other powerful greenhouse gases, warning that tackling these emissions is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to slow global warming and reduce economic and health impacts.
Speaking at the Leaders-Level Non-CO₂ Greenhouse Gases Summit at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, Stiell said methane reductions could deliver rapid climate benefits while improving public health, agricultural production and economic efficiency.
“In a world of suffocating disasters, action on methane offers breathing space,” Stiell said.
He said methane was among the fastest, cheapest and most effective ways to limit near-term temperature rises, but stressed that reductions must be accompanied by rapid cuts in carbon dioxide emissions to prevent further global warming.
“For small island states like mine, methane reduction buys us time,” he said.
Stiell warned that climate-driven disasters were already destroying lives and livelihoods and contributing to rising costs, with impacts expected to worsen as temperatures increase.
He said existing technologies could eliminate about 70 percent of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, much of it at low or no net cost.
In the solid waste sector, he said, 75 percent of methane reductions could generate financial savings, with the value of captured gas potentially exceeding the cost of investment.
The economic benefits were also significant, with research by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition finding that every dollar invested in key super-pollutant solutions delivered US$15 in economic gains.
“The business case is absolutely clear,” Stiell said.
He highlighted the scale of wasted energy in the oil and gas industry, saying about 167 billion cubic metres of gas were flared annually, representing an estimated US$54 billion in lost energy value.
“And that’s money going up in smoke,” he said.
Stiell said more than 90 percent of countries, representing around three-quarters of global methane emissions, had included measures to reduce methane in their latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
However, he said the priority now was to translate those commitments into concrete action.
He said COP31 could help countries implement practical solutions and build momentum through initiatives, including the COP Presidency’s targets on methane and waste.
Stiell also highlighted the Super Pollutant Country Action Accelerator as an initiative providing countries with support to reduce emissions.
He called on governments to make methane and other super-pollutants a priority in national climate plans, introduce policies targeting key sectors and encourage industries to invest in available technologies.
He urged countries to increase public and private financing, particularly through development banks and climate funds.
Stiell said only 0.5 percent of climate finance allocated for emissions reductions in 2023 went towards tackling super-pollutants.
He also called for greater investment in national institutions, technical capacity and project development, and encouraged countries to use the Paris Agreement Crediting Mechanism, the UN’s new carbon market.
One of its early focus areas is landfill methane, with the mechanism designed to reward projects that capture the gas and put it to productive use.
Stiell said reducing super-pollutants offered significant opportunities for climate action, economic development and human health.
“Super pollutants are a supersize opportunity. And it’s low hanging
“For the climate, for economies, and for human health,” he said…. PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: ISLANDS BUSINESS PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Climate science becomes a battleground at COP31 as Pacific warns against weakening 1.5°C ambition
By Sera Tikotikoivatu- Sefeti in Antalya, Turkiye
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (ISLANDS BUSINESS) —“If we weaken science, we can weaken the basis of action.”
Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) Director Vishal Prasad has warned that challenges to climate science at COP31 could undermine efforts to keep global warming within the 1.5°C limit.
“The challenge that is coming to science is precisely from the same parties that are against action. They don’t want us to move as quickly on fossil fuel phase-out and other elements of ambition that are needed to address climate change. And so science has really become a battleground,” Prasad said.
The issue emerged on the opening day of negotiations, according to Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN) International Policy Lead Sindra Sharma, who reported on discussions over the likelihood of global temperatures temporarily exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and the role of scientific assessments in guiding future climate decisions.
Prasad said scientific evidence must remain central to the negotiations and the decisions governments make to address climate change.
“Science provides us the guidelines, the basis of action and tells us the paths we need to take to achieve the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature target,” he said.
“We need to be protecting the science, protecting the 1.5 degrees target because that is the survival threshold of the Pacific and for many coastal communities.”
The debate was reflected in the opening plenary, where COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen told delegates that the latest science indicated the world would overshoot the 1.5°C threshold, but could subsequently return below it.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell also referred to methane reductions and electrification as measures that could help bring global temperatures down following an overshoot.
COP31 President Murat Kurum reiterated that 1.5°C remained the guiding objective of the conference.
For Pacific representatives, however, temporarily exceeding the threshold does not remove the risks communities would face during an overshoot, including impacts that could be irreversible.
The European Union, Least Developed Countries and other negotiating groups also called for stronger efforts to limit warming and ensure scientific assessments inform future climate decisions.
Another point of contention concerned the timeline for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).
The IPCC Chair warned parties that the absence of an agreement on the assessment timeline was placing the organisation at operational and reputational risk, with authors still without an agreed work schedule.
Several countries called for the assessment to be completed in time to inform the second Global Stocktake, which will evaluate collective progress towards the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The IPCC plenary is scheduled to resume discussions on the assessment timeline on December 1.
For Pacific countries, access to the latest scientific assessments is critical to ensuring international climate decisions reflect the scale and urgency of climate impacts.
Pacific Community (SPC) Director of Climate Change Coral Pasisi also raised concerns about how scientific evidence is treated in international climate discussions, saying established scientific processes must be considered alongside Indigenous and traditional knowledge.
“In our region, the science of lived experience, of traditional knowledge, is often the largest source of information and science we have,” she said.
“We are not lacking evidence. We are not lacking science. We are not lacking data and information. What we are lacking is wisdom of doing the right thing with that knowledge and that data.”
Pasisi said Pacific communities had accumulated generations of practical knowledge about their marine environments and the changes taking place within them.
She said this experience should inform international decision-making alongside established scientific assessments and technical expertise.
The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report has documented widespread adverse impacts and losses to nature and people resulting from human-induced climate change, with risks increasing with every additional increment of global warming.
Its Working Group II assessment on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability identifies warming of 1.5°C in the near term as a level that would bring unavoidable increases in multiple climate hazards and risks to ecosystems and human populations.
The report also warns that temporarily exceeding 1.5°C would expose human and natural systems to additional severe risks, some of which could be irreversible even if temperatures were subsequently reduced.
For Pacific communities experiencing coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion, changing weather patterns and increasing pressure on food and water systems, the implications of these findings are significant.
The opening day’s discussions also highlighted concerns about maintaining the integrity of scientific assessments, with several countries calling for the IPCC’s work to inform negotiations and for scientific contributions to reflect recognised expertise and regional balance.
As negotiations continue in Antalya, the debate over the 1.5°C threshold and the timeline for the IPCC’s next assessment will remain important to discussions on the global response to climate change.
For Pacific representatives, the position is clear: scientific evidence must guide climate decisions, and the 1.5°C limit must remain central to global climate action…. PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: SPREP PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
‘Find money for life, not death,’ Republic of Marshall Islands President appeals at COP31
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (SPREP)— The voice of the Republic of Marshall Islands echoed loud and clear throughout Plenary Anadolu at the Antalya Exhibition Centre on Wednesday where the atoll nation’s President, Hilda Heine, delivered a very strong message to world leaders.
“We are told there is no money [to address climate change],” she said. “But as the spending on war grows, the greatest security threat we face remains underfunded. I appeal to you, find money for life, not death.”
Heine was the first Pacific Leader to take the floor during the first part of the High-Level Segment for Heads of States and Government at COP31 in Türkiye.
She is amongst more than a hundred world leaders in Antalya engaging in what has been billed as an “implementation COP,” guided by the principles of “dialogue,” “consensus,” and “action.”
At the Leaders Plenary, the message from the Marshall Islands was succinct.
“Replenish the Climate Funds, triple adaptation finance to at least 120 billion per year by 2035, fill the Loss and Damage Fund and make it possible for small island developing states like mine to actually access that finance,” said President Heine.
“Cut the red tape, cut the time it takes to get the money.”
More than 80,000 delegates and officials are expected to attend COP31.
But the gathering in Antalya follows revelation by the UN Environment Programme, in its Limiting Overshoot Report, that under all plausible emissions trajectories, the world will surpass the 1.5 °C target agreed at COP21 in Paris.
The report is the first UN report to state explicitly that overshoot is now inevitable. It also lays out how to bring temperatures back below the 1.5 °C target this century.
“It’s time to wake up,” President Heine said. “Our response to the threat of the Overshoot must be overwhelming, or the world we know is over.”
Drawing on her experiences from the Marshall Islands, the President said she has witnessed first-hand the devastating impacts of climate change.
“Overshoot means waves eating away our shores, flooding that destroys towns, schools, hospitals, it destroys our land and ocean,” she said.
We are watching ecosystems die, she added, telling COP31 she has seen this with corals in her island, which are critical to the livelihood of her people.
“The Overshoot must be kept as short and small as possible and be rapidly reversed.”
The President of the Marshall Islands is amongst hundreds of Pacific delegates who have made long trip from their homes to Türkiye to fight for the survival of their communities who have been unfairly placed at the forefront of climate impacts.
In light of recent developments where science in relation to climate change, and the Pacific’s core message to keep 1.5 to stay alive, has increasingly been questioned in negotiations, President Heine said COP31 must protect the integrity of the science.
“We have fallen short of the emission reductions needed to stay under 1.5. We must rewrite the future that we read in the science,” she said.
“We have seen efforts to undermine the IPCC and to block its reports informing the next global stocktake. Our Pacific scientists tell us the work can and should be completed on time.” Science, she added, also tells us that “fossil fuels are the root cause of the overshoot” and “delayed action.”
On COP31’s focus on electrification, the Republic of Marshall Islands believes that while this is important, it must be linked to renewable energy generation to keep 1.5 within reach.
“Reducing emissions also means protecting carbon sinks, the Ocean is our lifeline and the single most important thing we can do to protect it is to stop burning fossil fuels.”
The President of the Marshall Islands said the pre-COP in Tuvalu and Fiji should have given the world a taste of the “lived reality” of climate change for Pacific communities. She acknowledged Turkiye and Australia for amplifying Pacific Voices during the pre-COP, and now in Antalya.
“The Pacific will continue to fight. To make our opposition to coal production and gas exports known. To call for the developed world to pay for its actions. And to remind those who want to build their future at the expense of the Pacific, that while every country has the right to develop, no one has the right to pollute their neighbours.”
The 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is taking place from 9-20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye….PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: SPREP PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Every fraction of a degree counts – Federated States of Micronesia
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (SPREP)— In April this year, Super Typhoon Sinlaku devastated the states of Chuuk and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), killing nine people and damaging homes, crops, water systems and essential infrastructure.
The super typhoon caused damages estimated at approximately USD 96 million dollars, roughly 18 percent of the FSM’s national GDP.
“For a large economy, a disaster of this scale would be a major shock,” Leaders attending COP31 in Antalya Türkiye were told. “But for a small island country, its consequences are felt in our homes, our national budgets, and our communities for years to come.”
Addressing the first part of the High-Level Segment for Heads of States and Government at COP31 in Türkiye on Wednesday, the President of the Federated States of Micronesia, His Excellency Wesley W. Simina, delivered a passionate plea.
“Every fraction of a degree counts,” he said. “Every day counts. Every year counts. And the actions we take in this decade will determine the conditions under which the Pacific lives for generations to come.”
President Simina heads the FSM delegation in Türkiye where they have come to seek urgent and tangible climate actions, amplifying the One Pacific Voice on 1.5 to stay alive. They remain hopeful as negotiations get underway.
“We uphold 1.5°C as a threshold of fundamental importance for the future of island states,” he said.
“The scientific picture is increasingly grave. As the world confronts an unprecedented period of overshoot of 1.5°C, warm-water coral reefs face critical tipping thresholds and irreversible losses. For Micronesia, this has direct consequences.”
To avoid such a scenario, President Simina said its imperative decisions made at COP31 contribute to slowing the rate of warming so there is more time for adaptation and to reduce the pressure on ecosystems.
He reminded that Pacific Leaders have collectively called on all countries to address short-lived climate pollutants, particularly methane, to prevent near-term warming.
“This is a shared Pacific commitment, and Micronesia is proud to have championed it,” he said. “In an era of overshoot, rapid methane reductions, full implementation of the Kigali Amendment, greater energy efficiency and reduction in other super pollutants can help slow warming in the near term. These efforts must accompany an accelerated, just, orderly and equitable transition away from fossil fuels.”
FSM also called for just transition to protect livelihoods and leave no island community behind.
On energy transition, Micronesia continues to show leadership by efforts on renewable energy, energy efficiency and reduced dependence on imported fossil fuels.
“Our national ambitions include universal electricity access and 70% renewable electricity generation by 2030, with a further goal of 80 percent renewable energy power generation by 2035; targets that depend on meaningful international support,” said President Simina.
“The Pacific does not come to this conference merely to describe what we stand to lose. We come with solutions, with determination, and with a long tradition of looking after one another. We ask the international community to meet our leadership with action,” the President of FSM said.
“For Micronesia, success will be measured in practical terms: a slower rate of warming, declining global emissions, stronger resilience, more accessible finance, greater energy security and reduced risk to our people,” he said…PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: PACNEWS/350.ORG PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Australia takes the world stage at COP31 – but fails to mention the transition away from fossil fuels
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (PACNEWS/350.ORG)—UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva have called on world leaders to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, putting pressure on Australia and Türkiye to turn their COP31 leadership roles into concrete action.
Guterres delivered a blunt message to world leaders at the COP31 high-level segment, declaring that “fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs” and warning that the fossil fuel industry’s political influence was obstructing efforts to tackle climate change.
Lula, a former president of COP30, urged countries to develop national roadmaps for a just transition away from fossil fuels, building on commitments and momentum from last year’s climate summit in Belém, Brazil.
Climate advocacy organisation 350.org says the calls highlight the need for COP31 co-presidents Australia and Türkiye to establish a clear process for advancing the transition away from coal, oil and gas.
The organisation criticised the lack of progress on the roadmap process, despite growing calls from governments, the United Nations and civil society.
It also pointed to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s COP31 address, which made no mention of fossil fuels.
Fenton Lutunatabua, 350.org Pacific and Caribbean Programme Manager, said Guterres and Lula had made clear that governments must move beyond recognising the problem and begin implementing national transition plans.
“António Guterres has said what the science and the people on the frontlines have been telling governments for years: fossil fuels belong in the past. Lula has made clear that countries must now turn the commitment to move away from fossil fuels into fair and funded national plans,” Lutunatabua said.
“The question is whether Australia and Türkiye are prepared to lead, or whether they will allow this moment to slip away.”
Lutunatabua said Australia could not claim climate leadership while remaining silent on the coal, oil and gas industries driving the climate crisis.
He called on Australia to establish a presidency-led process for developing national transition roadmaps, supported by clear timelines and climate finance, with the work feeding into the next Global Stocktake.
He said electrification must be powered by renewable energy, expand access to affordable electricity and be supported by climate finance.
“We cannot simply build more electricity infrastructure while leaving fossil fuels in control of the energy system – or leave developing countries to pay for a transition they did not cause,” he said.
350.org has also launched an open letter to Albanese, urging Australia to use its COP31 co-presidency to advance a fair and fully funded transition away from fossil fuels.
The letter calls for renewable-powered electrification and increased climate finance to support countries most vulnerable to climate change.
350 Australia chief executive Te Raukura O’Connell Rapira said Australia must take three concrete steps to demonstrate climate leadership.
These include advancing national roadmaps for a just transition away from fossil fuels, publishing its own roadmap with an ambitious deadline to phase out coal, and establishing a presidency-led process to carry the work forward towards the second Global Stocktake.
She also called on Australia to champion renewable-powered electrification and commit AUD$11 billion in international climate finance over five years.
“These are not optional extras. They are the minimum steps Australia must take if it wants to be remembered as a country that helped move the world beyond fossil fuels, rather than one that stood in the way,” O’Connell Rapira said.
350.org said COP31 must deliver progress towards practical and adequately funded transition plans rather than another declaration of concern over climate change.
It said Australia now had an opportunity to help accelerate the global shift away from fossil fuels or risk holding back the action needed to address the climate crisis…PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: ISLANDS BUSINESS PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Climate harm is here – Pacific communities
By Sera Tikotikoivati- Sefeti in Antalya, Turkiye
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (ISLANDS BUSINESS) —“For us in the Pacific, climate harm means losing our ancestral lands, our freshwater sources, our garden ecosystems that sustain our livelihood, our food security and our cultural practices.”
For Belyndar Rikimani, campaigns and research lead at the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), climate harm is already being experienced across Pacific communities, with consequences extending far beyond environmental damage.
Speaking at a side event at the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion during COP31, Rikimani joined representatives from the Tuvalu Climate Action Network (TUCAN), the Marshall Islands Government and the United Nations Environment Programme to discuss the implications of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion and what it means for countries on the frontlines of climate change.
Rikimani said that “the opinion was significant because it recognises the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions, environmental harm and fundamental human rights”.
“The ruling recognised the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and the harm caused to the climate system and the environment.”
She said the recognition of the relationship between climate change and fundamental human rights was particularly important for Pacific countries.
For Tuvalu youth climate activist, Mililani Homasi, the impacts extend beyond physical damage to homes and infrastructure, with the uncertainty of losing one’s homeland taking an equally significant toll.
“One of the greatest parts I want to bring forward is the fear of just losing home, and perhaps even more painful, the fear of living in a home that I am constantly afraid of losing,” she said.
Homasi said, “the suffering experienced by communities was not always openly expressed, but silence should never be mistaken for an absence of pain.”
She rejected the idea that displacement should be treated as an inevitable response to climate change.
“We should not have to leave our ancestral homes to prove our resilience. We deserve the right to remain on our land, protect our culture and determine our own future,” she said.
In the Marshall Islands, Dr Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, climate change associate envoy and poet, said communities were already responding to climate impacts while governments worked to develop long-term adaptation plans.
“Women and girls were having to find freshwater and respond to inundation and disasters, while young people were confronting the uncertainty surrounding their country’s future.”
She said, “The Marshall Islands’ National Adaptation Plan was informed by extensive community consultations, which consistently showed that people wanted to remain on their islands.”
“The document basically affirms our right to stay,” she said.
“Grassroots organisations were also essential to the process, but needed greater funding and capacity to contribute to national adaptation policies and implement solutions within their communities.”
She pointed to the Marshall Islands Resilience and Adaptation Trust Fund, established to improve access to financing for community-level adaptation and support the implementation of climate resilience measures.
However, Pacific governments face increasing demands as they respond to immediate disasters while planning for longer-term climate threats.
“We have to balance immediate crises against existential threats,” she said.
For small island states, this means developing adaptation and loss and damage responses while simultaneously protecting their land, communities and existing systems.
Jetñil-Kijiner recalls stories from Pacific communities documenting the physical changes to their surroundings.
“I have heard stories like, there was once a lagoon here and now it’s underwater, there was an airport here and now it’s underwater, or there were bridges over here and it’s now underwater,” she said.
“Climate change was forcing governments to rethink traditional approaches to national development planning, with adaptation increasingly shaping decisions across sectors.”
Access to climate finance remained critical, particularly for grassroots organisations and communities already implementing solutions.
Rikimani also highlighted the need for governments to translate the ICJ Advisory Opinion into practical action.
“For us in the Pacific, this means enhancing the accessibility to climate finance for our communities from the grassroots level,” she said.
The opinion reinforces states’ obligations to prevent significant climate harm, strengthen adaptation and address loss and damage. It also highlights the need to protect fundamental rights, including the rights to life, health, water, food and culture, while ensuring meaningful participation by Indigenous peoples, women, children and young people.
Homasi said, “Pacific communities were already responding through local leadership, advocacy, cultural preservation and collective efforts to protect their homes.”
Through the Tuvalu Climate Action Network (TUCAN), she has witnessed grassroots organisations supporting communities through awareness programmes, practical assistance and efforts to preserve traditional knowledge.
She shares that loss and damage extended beyond destroyed infrastructure, damaged food gardens and financial losses.
“It is also about the things that money cannot replace: our cultural practices, traditional knowledge, identity, our language, our ancestral connections, and of course, the way of life,” she said.
She ended her contribution with a saying that reflects the enduring connection between Pacific people and their ancestral homes.
“You can take me away from home, but you cannot take home away from my heart.”….PACNEWS
PAC – COP31: AAP PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Australia talks hard line on climate but doubts remain
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (AAP)—While Anthony Albanese insists Australia is pulling its weight, Energy Minister Chris Bowen has warned that the world is facing crisis on multiple fronts.
The two-pronged message has been delivered as a one-two punch by the nation’s most senior voices on climate change at the opening of the COP31 summit in Turkey.
However, it didn’t acknowledge the elephant in the room when it comes to Australia’s position on global warming – the transition away from fossil fuels.
Critics such as former Greens leader Adam Bandt, who is attending COP31 as chief executive of the Australian Conservation Foundation, said the federal government is focused on electrification rather than the more difficult task of phasing out non-renewables.
“Australia is playing our part,” the prime minister told the World Leaders Climate Action Summit segment of the United Nations event in Antalya.
“Our target is ambitious, our progress is strong and our successes are significant.”
Albanese framed his address as a call to arms for world leaders to extend a lifeline to Pacific nations under threat from rising sea levels and extreme weather.
Underlining his point, he cited the plea of aspiring doctor, 13-year-old Melelusi Sokotia from Tuvalu, who told leaders at last month’s pre-COP event she and her peers wanted to remain safe in their island nation.
Albanese also called for nations to support the Pacific Resilience Facility, launched in 2025, designed to raise US$500 million for climate change and adaption projects.
Australia is leading negotiations at the annual talks in Antalya and Albanese said it would use the opportunity to highlight the plight of its regional neighbours.
“We sought this role because we wanted to speak for the people of the world who need urgent action, including those from our Pacific family,” he said.
“Their brave, resourceful people need us to act and they’re pleading for us to do so, politely but with absolute clarity.”
Bowen said Australia and Turkey’s partnership in presenting COP31 linked the Mediterranean and Pacific regions as “custodians of the climate process”.
He also implored those gathered to enter a frank discourse in light of universal cost-of-living pressures, a global fuel security crisis and multiple wars and conflicts.
“It is no exaggeration to say the world is facing a polycrisis,” he said.
“Not challenges on one front, challenges on multiple fronts all at once and this is causing angst, confusion and anger around the world.”
Also speaking at the summit, outgoing United National Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said urgent action was required to address the subject neither Albanese nor Mr Bowen touched on, the phasing out of fossil fuels.
“That won’t happen on its own,” he warned.
“The dinosaurs did not have a lobby but fossil fuels do.
“That means no new coal, no new oil and gas infrastructure that puts 1.5 degrees further out of reach.”
Bandt declared the comments as “a very significant intervention”.
Australia and other nations were being “called out” on the issue, he told reporters.
“We want to see Australia up on that stage saying that they’re not going to open up new coal and gas mines.”
Guterres’ call comes months after the UN warned the world was on track to surpass 1.5C of warming within a few years and should act to limit the severity and duration of the overshoot.
“Our first climate duty is to tell the truth and the brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us,” he said.
Greater investments in renewable energy including solar power could help nations move away from coal, oil and gas, Guterres said.
“Fossil fuels must go the way of the dinosaurs but that will not happen on its own.
“It’s time to kick the habit and end the fossil-fuel addiction,” he said…. PACNEWS
VAN – PASSPORT: OCCRP PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
More than 1,300 Diplomatic Passports missing in Vanuatu, report finds
PORT VILA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (OCCRP)—A damning parliamentary report in Vanuatu has found more than 1,300 diplomatic passports went missing in recent years and remain unaccounted for.
The report by Vanuatu’s Public Accounts Committee, released on Tuesday and obtained by OCCRP, revealed that 1,390 diplomatic passports went missing between 2019 and 2024, with 1,301 disappearing in 2024 alone.
The committee also found significant irregularities in the processing and issuance of the documents, including alleged misuse by the country’s prime minister and foreign minister.
It is the latest passport controversy for the small Pacific island country of roughly 340,000 people, whose so-called “golden passport” program has attracted a colorful cast of wealthy investors ranging from spies and fugitives to sanctioned oligarchs and influencer Andrew Tate.
The report followed several years of mounting concerns over the country’s issuance of diplomatic passports.
The committee found that Prime Minister Jotham Napat, Foreign Minister Marc Ati, and other top officials improperly appointed foreign nationals as special envoys and trade commissioners. The officials granted them diplomatic status and passports without fulfilling proper residency requirements or legal mandates. The allegations against Napat date to his tenure as foreign minister.
Napat and Ati did not respond to the committee’s requests for comment. When contacted by OCCRP, Ati declined to comment and Napat’s office did not respond.
The report also found that amendments to Vanuatu’s Passport Act improperly bypassed the Council of Ministers, or cabinet, and contravened international conventions on diplomatic missions and officers. The amendments also violated Vanuatu’s constitutional provisions regarding public office holders and dual citizens, the report found.
The irregularities were underscored by a visit committee members took to the passport office, where they “observed that the building and room hosting the passports stock and the passport office is not at all appropriate in all respects for a passport office nor was it adequately secured and safe.”
“There is no camera installed internally and on the exterior of the building to ensure appropriate security maintenance,” the report continued.
The report cited specific cases, including the January 2023 appointment of Chinese national Han Hans as Vanuatu’s special envoy on trade and investment to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore by then-Foreign Minister Napat. At the time, special envoys were not eligible for diplomatic passports. Nonetheless, a week later Hans collected his passport directly from Napat rather than the chief protocol officer legally authorized to distribute them, according to the report.
Hans was arrested in China on 22 August 2023 after traveling on his Vanuatu diplomatic passport and later prosecuted and sentenced, according to the report, which did not specify the charges.
The committee provided recommendations to hold officials accountable, cancel unlawful citizenships and passports—which Vanuatu began doing last year—and strictly overhaul internal security controls to safeguard national sovereignty.
This is not the first passport embarrassment for Vanuatu.
In addition to being on the European Union’s taxhaven blacklist, Vanuatu lost visa-free access to the EU in December 2024 over serious security and migration risks, inadequate applicant screening, fast processing times and instances where citizenship was granted to individuals listed in Interpol databases.
Last year, OCCRP revealed that Andrew Tate, an influencer and self-described “misogynist,” had obtained a Vanuatu passport via its citizenship-by-investment scheme, which costs as little as US$130,000 and comes with few restrictions.
He received the document around the time of his 2022 arrest by Romanian authorities on charges including rape and human trafficking.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Protocol at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DoFA), Mark Esrom Vano, has been terminated following the conclusion of a disciplinary process over the authorisation of a diplomatic passport issued to a Trade Commissioner.
According to the Public Service Commission (PSC), Vano admitted fault for signing documentation authorising the issurance of the diplomatic passport the Trade Commissioner to Thailand, Liao Shaoyuan, without prior endorsement of the former Director General (DG) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Noah Patrick Kouback….PACNEWS
FIJI – COURTS: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
NFP leader Biman Prasad walks free as court dismisses two charges
SUVA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (FIJI TIMES) —Former Fiji deputy prime minister Professor Biman Prasad is now a free man after Magistrate Yogesh Prasad ruled that he had no case to answer on two charges brought against him by the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC).
The ruling was delivered in the Suva Magistrates Court, bringing an end to the criminal proceedings against Professor Prasad.
Professor Prasad faced two charges under the Political Parties (Registration, Conduct, Funding and Disclosures) Act 2013.
He was charged with failing to comply with statutory disclosure requirements, contrary to section 24(5), read with section 24(1B)(d) of the Act.
It was alleged that between December 30, 2015 and January 31, 2016, while an officeholder of the National Federation Party, he failed to disclose his directorship in Platinum Hotels & Resorts PTE Limited in his declaration of assets, liabilities and income as at December 31, 2015.
The second charge alleged that on January 28, 2016, Professor Prasad recklessly provided false information in a statutory declaration, contrary to section 27(1)(c) of the Act.
He allegedly declared that the particulars in his declaration were true and complete despite omitting his directorship in the company.
Meanwhile, Professor Biman Prasad will be sworn back into Cabinet Friday, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has confirmed.
Speaking to The Fiji Times in Savusavu, Rabuka said Prof Prasad would return to Cabinet, although his ministerial portfolio had yet to be finalised.
Asked whether Professor Prasad would be reinstated as Minister for Finance, Rabuka said he would first need to assess the current Cabinet arrangements.
“I do not know yet. I will have to look at what we have in Cabinet and assess what the Minister of Finance has been doing,” he said.
“If that is the best solution, he will be reinstated. Otherwise, he will take back a position in Cabinet.”
Rabuka said several ministers were currently handling additional portfolios, which would need to be considered before a final decision was made.
“You know there are some ministers carrying additional portfolios. For example, Vosarogo is currently handling two other portfolios,” he said.
However, the Prime Minister indicated that Finance, Trade and Commerce would be the most suitable portfolio for Prof Prasad.
“The most appropriate portfolio for him would be Finance, Trade and Commerce,” Rabuka said……PACNEWS
COOKS – DIPLOMACY: PACNEWS PACNEWS 1: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Repatriation options exhausted for stranded Sri Lankan woman in Cook Islands
RAROTONGA, 13 NOVEMBER (PACNEWS)— A Wellington-based humanitarian organisation says it has exhausted available land, air and sea options to repatriate a Sri Lankan woman stranded in Rarotonga, as it continues efforts to secure her safe return home.
Deen Welfare Trust said its representative, Tahir Nawaz, recently travelled to Rarotonga to meet Ruchira Sewwandi, assess her physical and mental wellbeing and discuss her urgent request to return to her family in Sri Lanka.
The woman has been unable to leave the Cook Islands after repeated refusals of transit visas by New Zealand and Australian authorities.
During the visit, Nawaz also met members of the local Cook Islands community who have been supporting Sewwandi during her prolonged stay.
The Trust said it had examined all possible land, air and sea repatriation routes but found them either impractical or ineligible for formal approval.
An alternative route through French Polynesia was also explored, but Sewwandi was advised that she must complete biometric fingerprinting in New Zealand as part of her Tahiti transit visa application.
The requirement has created another obstacle because she is unable to travel to New Zealand.
Deen Welfare Trust has since approached relevant authorities to seek further assistance.
The New Zealand High Commission in the Cook Islands has acknowledged the humanitarian request and forwarded the case to its office in Wellington for consideration.
The High Commission of Sri Lanka in Wellington has also acknowledged the Trust’s submission, with a formal meeting requested to discuss possible repatriation arrangements and wider welfare support for Sri Lankan nationals in New Zealand and the Pacific.
The Trust is also seeking specialist immigration legal assistance to review the case and identify possible options to overcome the transit visa restrictions.
“Our priority right now is simple: to get this vulnerable woman safely home to her family in Sri Lanka,” Nawaz said.
“She has endured years of uncertainty and immense psychological distress. Our visit to Rarotonga confirmed just how urgent this humanitarian situation is.”
He acknowledged the support provided by members of the Cook Islands community who have continued to assist Sewwandi.
The Trust said it remained willing to personally escort her through designated airside transit zones if a transit visa exemption or approval is granted, to address concerns about her onward travel.
Deen Welfare Trust said it would provide further updates as progress is made, but would not comment on individual agency decisions while official processes continue, citing the need to protect Sewwandi’s privacy…..PACNEWS
PACNEWS BIZ
FIJI – TAX: FIJI SUN PACNEWS BIZ: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Declare side hustle: Fiji Revenue and Customs Service
SUVA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (FIJI SUN)—Salary and wage earner sin Fiji who make extra money outside their regular jobs are reminded that any additional income must be declared for tax purposes.
This includes earnings from rental properties, Airbnb and homestays, online businesses, taxi and minibus operations, farming and fishing.
The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service (FRCS) issued the reminder in a public notice yesterday, urging individuals earning additional income to keep proper records of sales, invoices, bank statements and receipts.
Those operating unregistered businesses must register through the Taxpayer Online Service Portal, with tax returns due by 31 March.
Economist and former minister Dr Mahendra Reddy said the requirement was justified in principle, but the bigger concern was whether the tax system was fair, practical and easy to comply with.
He said people earning similar incomes should pay similar amounts of tax, arguing that undeclared earnings gave some operators an unfair advantage over registered shops, accommodation providers and consultants.
Dr Reddy said collecting taxes already due could also ease pressure on the Government to increase tax rates.
He stressed that declaring income did not mean every dollar received was taxable profit. Business expenses, including seeds, fuel and materials, must be accounted for when calculating taxable income.
He warned that excessive paperwork and complicated compliance requirements could discourage people from taking on additional work or formalising small businesses.
Enforcement, he said, should focus on deliberate tax evasion rather than burdening small operators who were trying to comply.
Dr Reddy also said the FRCS notice did not clearly explain the difference between declaring income, calculating profit and determining the tax payable. This could leave people thinking they were being taxed on every dollar received.
Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation chief executive officer Edward Bernard supported the FRCS reminder, saying additional income should be encouraged because wages alone might not be enough to meet a family’s needs.
He said only 10 percent of the workforce paid income tax, which helped fund essential services and infrastructure.
However, an online business owner, who asked not to be named, questioned the impact of additional tax obligations on small operators.
“If we pay another tax, we don’t really have a lot left,” the owner said. A money lender said taxing all income was “part of the law”.
Earlier this year, FRCS chief executive officer Udit Singh said unrecorded cash transactions, commonly referred to as the black economy, were estimated to be worth between $800 million(US$400 million) and $1 billion(US$500 million).
Individuals have a $30,000 (US$15,000) threshold.
“Everyone is allowed to earn a living, provided they pay some tax,” he said…. PACNEWS
FIJI – WEATHER WATCH/ELNINO: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS BIZ: Fri 13 Nov 2026
Fiji Opposition MP Kumar accuses Government of being unprepared for El Niño crisis
SUVA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (FIJI TIMES)—Fiji Opposition MP Premila Kumar has accused the Coalition Government of failing to prepare adequately for the El Niño crisis, saying its response to struggling farmers is “too little, too late”.
Kumar said farmers were already facing crop losses, dying pastures and feed shortages, yet the Government was only now rolling out what it described as its first-stage response.
“El Niño is not a surprise. The warnings were there months in advance,” she said.
“The Government had ample time to prepare, put resources in place and support farmers before the situation deteriorated.”
She also questioned the decision to give farmers only seven days to submit Expressions of Interest for assistance, saying the timeframe failed to consider the challenges faced by farmers in remote communities and the outer islands.
Kumar said many farmers had limited internet access and faced difficulties navigating bureaucratic application processes.
She further questioned the conditions attached to the assistance, saying submitting an application did not guarantee support, with farmers still required to undergo eligibility checks, field verification and technical assessments.
She said the Government had not provided clear details on the budget allocated, the number of water tanks and irrigation kits available, the number of farmers expected to benefit or when assistance would be delivered.
“Without clear figures and timelines, this announcement is just lip service,” she said.
Kumar said farmers needed immediate practical assistance, including water, livestock feed and support to protect their crops and livelihoods.
She said promoting drought-resistant seedlings and climate-smart farming practices was not enough to address the immediate crisis, as these were long-term measures that would do little for farmers already losing their crops and income.
“Farmers are paying the price for poor planning and delayed action. They deserve more than last-minute interventions and ministerial promises,” she said…..PACNEWS
PACNEWS In Focus
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Follow the money: where Pacific scam losses go, and how to get in the way
By Joshua James and Megumi Hara, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
SUVA, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (UNODC)—Since 2017, people in Fiji have reported about 1,600 scams to police, with losses exceeding FJD$1.3 million (US$650,000). Behind these figures are individuals and communities whose trust has been exploited, often with little prospect of recovering what they have lost.
But the challenge goes beyond individual scams. Organised fraud has become a transnational criminal business, with networks moving illicit proceeds across borders faster than authorities can trace them.
This year’s International Day against Transnational Organised Crime, under the theme “Follow the Money: Stop Organised Fraud” highlights a simple truth: organised fraud is a business built on stolen money. To disrupt it, we need to follow the money and get in its way.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates in its 2026 Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment for Southeast Asia that scams cost people in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand between US$88 billion and US$114 billion in 2025. That is roughly double the combined GDP of all Pacific Island countries.
Behind this vast criminal economy are “scam compounds”: guarded facilities where people are made to carry out online scams. Many workers are trafficked there, lured by fake job offers and then prevented from leaving.
A victim transfers money through a bank or mobile payment platform. The funds may first reach a “mule” account, often belonging to someone who has agreed to receive and transfer money for a small payment. Criminals then move the money through multiple accounts or convert it into digital assets. Within minutes, it can cross borders, making it increasingly difficult to trace and recover.
FIUs (Financial Intelligence Units) as national centres for receiving and analysing suspicious transaction reports, FIUs can connect information from different banks, payment providers and other sources to identify patterns that individual institutions may not see. A mule account that initially appears to be involved in an isolated scam may be linked to dozens of other accounts, common beneficiaries or a wider network moving money across borders.
Financial intelligence generated by the FIUs provides critical support to police, prosecutors and other competent authorities to support investigations, trace criminal proceeds and identify assets that may be restrained or confiscated. They can also exchange financial intelligence with FIUs in other countries, helping authorities follow the money beyond national borders.
The Pacific is no longer just a target
Scammers exploit the trust that holds Pacific communities together, at home and abroad. In February 2026, New Zealand and Tongan authorities jointly warned of BG Wealth/DSJ EX, a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform targeting Tongans and the Tongan diaspora communities through social media and word of mouth. In close-knit communities, shame can keep victims quiet. If you have paid a scammer, tell your bank and the police the same day.
But the Pacific is no longer only where victims live. In September, police in Port Moresby rescued 39 Indonesians from a house where they were forced to run online scams. Police charged four Chinese citizens and said the operation had moved from Cambodia in June.
In January 2025, Palauan authorities raided two hotels running Chinese-language online gambling and cryptocurrency operations. One was making at least US$200,000 a month, and the profits left the country as digital money. At the time, Palau lacked specific cybercrime legislation, and authorities sent most of the workers home without charging them or treating them as victims of human trafficking. The country has subsequently legislated a comprehensive Cybersecurity Act.
Scam operations have also been reported elsewhere in the Pacific. Tonga’s police leadership has highlighted the changing security landscape this year: cyber-enabled offending, cybercrime, financial investment scams, unauthorised foreign exchange dealing, money laundering, counterfeit passports and drug trafficking. These crimes are becoming faster, more global, and harder to trace.
Following the money to disrupt criminal networks
Arresting trafficked workers is wrong, and it does little to stop the criminals behind these operations. The real target must be the criminal networks. Profit is their lifeblood, and following the money is the surest way to disrupt them.
As Nancy Tikoisuva, Fiji’s Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, said in July: “If we can’t touch the criminals, we can touch the assets.”
Disrupting these networks requires banks, FIUs, police and prosecutors to work together. Financial institutions must recognise suspicious transactions and report them promptly. FIUs must be equipped to analyse that information, identify links between accounts and transactions, and share financial intelligence with investigators and their counterparts abroad. Police and prosecutors must be able to act on that intelligence, secure evidence and pursue the restraint and confiscation of criminal assets. Countries must share evidence as fast as the money moves.
Effective responses to crimes that cross borders require strong international cooperation. The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime is a new international instrument that complements the legal and operational frameworks available to Member States through the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (2000) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (2003). It helps countries share evidence from phones and computers and work on cases together. Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Naoero have signed it. Ten Pacific Island countries have not. Signatures close on 31 December 2026.
We encourage Pacific governments to sign the agreement before the end of the year. We further encourage strengthening legislative frameworks, financial intelligence capabilities, inter-agency coordination, and specialised training to enhance authorities’ ability to detect, trace, and disrupt criminal proceeds, and to bring scammers and their facilitators to justice.
Joshua James is UNODC’s Regional Counter-Cybercrime Coordinator, based in Bangkok. Megumi Hara is UNODC’s Pacific Adviser on Transnational Organised Crime, based in Suva.
Source for the loss estimate: UNODC, “An Interconnected Criminal Ecosystem: Transnational Organised Crime Threat Assessment for South-East Asia 2026” (July 2026), https://www.unodc.org/roseap/uploads/documents/Publications/2026/TOCTA_South-East_Asia_2026.pdf
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Fiji Petrel eludes 10-Day search as communities aim to protect Bird’s Habitat: Peer-Reviewed Research
Scientists document all known sightings of little-understood bird from Fiji, found nowhere else on Earth; secure only-known recording of its call
SAWAIEKE/WASHINGTON, 13 NOVEMBER 2026 (PRISTINE SEAS)—— A new peer-reviewed study released today details scientists’ search for one of the planet’s rarest birds in the waters off Fiji’s Gau Island.
Spanning ten days, the expedition yielded no verified sightings of the critically endangered Fiji Petrel, one of the world’s most elusive birds. Fewer than 50 individuals are believed to remain on Earth. The researchers’ investigation helped secure the only known audio recording of the Fiji Petrel’s call.
Community members on Gau Island vowed to protect the forests on mountain slopes, known as montane forests, where the birds are thought to nest.
The expedition, which was carried out by National Geographic Pristine Seas in May 2025 in partnership with BirdLife International and NatureFiji-MareqetiViti, is detailed in a scientific paper — Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi a review of historical sightings and the outcomes of a 2025 at-sea survey and tagging attempt — published today in the journal Bird Conservation International. In addition to documenting the team’s at-sea search, the paper compiles, for the first time, every confirmed sighting of the Fiji Petrel, locally known as Kacau-ni-Gau from 1855 to present day.
The species was spotted on land on Gau until the 2000s, but no confirmed land sightings have occurred since 2012. The last confirmed sighting at sea was during a scientific search in 2023. This is one of the few species of seabirds in which no nests have ever been found.
“We’re in a race against time to save the Fiji Petrel,” said Lindsay Young, Vice President of research for Pristine Seas who led the expedition.
“We searched for the bird night and day through the most tried-and-true techniques available, but the Fiji Petrel eluded us. While we left Gau still chasing shadows, communities’ commitment to habitat protection and invasive species control gives any remaining Fiji Petrels a fighting chance.”
During their ten-day search, mostly at sea, the local and international scientists spent over 12 hours per day scouring the skies for the Fiji Petrel. While the sun shone, the team used a technique called chumming — dispersing bait and fish oil on the sea surface — to try to attract the birds. At night, they attempted to attract the petrels through spotlighting and acoustic attraction: two bright handheld spotlights were aimed vertically to create a strong beam visible from a distance, while an audio recording of calls meant to attract the Fiji Petrel was played on a loop. Sightings were only considered confirmed if they were supported by photographic evidence.
“We have records of humans seeing the Fiji Petrel only 16 times on land and 22 times at sea,” remarked Melania Bulimaitoga, biologist for BirdLife International.
“That’s why this bird and everything about it remains a mystery: the bird’s breeding habits, population size, and foraging behaviour are virtually unknown. We had hoped to tag a bird to finally understand where their nests are and how to protect them. After 10 days and nights of little sleep and lots of focus, we came up empty.”
As part of their information gathering, the team spoke to residents of Gau Island, who have deep traditional knowledge about the bird, and uncovered the only known audio recording of the Fiji Petrel call.
The Fiji Petrel — endemic to the country — holds deep significance in Gau Island and beyond. The bird adorns Fiji’s twenty-dollar banknote and is the subject of lullabies passed down through generations on Gau Island, Fiji’s fifth-largest island.
The study describes how oral histories shared by Gau village chiefs indicate that the Fiji Petrel and similar species used to be much more abundant. Chiefs recounted stories from their great-grandmothers, who described collecting seabird eggs from the lower montane slopes behind the village, especially during pregnancy, when eating the eggs was considered desirable.
The Fiji Petrel’s primary threats include invasive predators — feral cats, rats and pigs — and habitat degradation on Gau, the only island where the bird has ever been recorded.
The lack of confirmed sightings during the most recent expedition underlines the peril of the bird’s status. But scientists acknowledge that external factors, including a cyclone that passed south of the expedition during the survey period, as well as a recent strong El Niño could have contributed to the Fiji Petrel’s absence.
“We were disappointed not to have any confirmed sightings, but a single survey is just a snapshot,” remarked Lindsay Young. “It doesn’t tell the whole story. Even so, we have to acknowledge the real risk that the Fiji Petrel may be slipping away as we watch — which is precisely why new protections being pursued by communities in Gau are so critical,” he said…PACNEWS
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Climate diplomacy praises Indigenous knowledge but withholds power
By Jack Huang
ANTALYA, 13 NOVEMBER 2206 (CLIMATE DIPLOMACY)—AT successive UN climate conferences, two ideas have appeared side by side.
Developed countries promise more adaptation and loss-and-damage finance, while official declarations celebrate Indigenous knowledge as essential to planetary survival.
Together, they create an appealing picture of climate justice: historical emitters provide restitution, while communities that have long protected vulnerable ecosystems help guide the response.
But this apparent synthesis conceals a deeper failure.
Recognition is expanding much faster than either finance or political authority.
The finance gap is stark. The Glasgow Climate Pact called on developed countries to double adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025 – commonly understood as a target of about USD$40 billion.
Yet the UN Environment Program concluded that the target would not be met, while developing countries’ adaptation needs could reach USD$310 billion annually by 2035.
The Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage presents a similar mismatch.
An official board report recorded USD$788.8 million in pledges but only USD$361 million received by June 2025.
The fund’s creation carried political weight, but its resources remain far removed from the scale of irreversible losses already confronting climate-vulnerable states.
In this setting, praising Indigenous knowledge becomes inexpensive moral currency. Negotiators can endorse traditional stewardship without resolving harder disputes over historical responsibility, fiscal transfers, land tenure or legal liability. Ceremonial recognition risks becoming a substitute for redistribution.
That does not make Indigenous knowledge symbolic or scientifically marginal.
Indigenous peoples hold tenure rights over or manage more than a quarter of the world’s land, overlapping with around 40 per cent of terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes.
In northern Australia, Indigenous fire management has moved beyond rhetorical recognition.
Controlled early dry-season burning is incorporated into Australia’s carbon-credit methodology, reducing the risk of more destructive late-season fires while supporting Indigenous ranger organisations and carbon enterprises.
But such knowledge is not a technology that can simply be extracted and replicated elsewhere.
It is embedded in particular landscapes, languages, institutions and relationships between communities and country.
Knowledge of Australian savannas cannot be detached from its custodians and exported as a generic wildfire-management template.
Nor can Amazonian forest knowledge be inserted wholesale into adaptation plans for Pacific atolls or Asian megacities.
The central policy problem is therefore not how to “scale up” Indigenous knowledge.
It is how institutions can support locally specific knowledge without stripping away the authority that gives it meaning.
Existing climate funds remain poorly designed for that task.
Entry commonly requires accredited intermediaries, fiduciary systems, complex proposal documentation and internationally legible monitoring frameworks.
The Green Climate Fund itself acknowledges that Indigenous peoples frequently lack equitable access to project benefits and are not always adequately consulted over activities affecting their communities.
Its recent efforts to widen accreditation for Indigenous organisations are welcome, but they also reveal how exceptional direct access remains.
Research cited by the World Resources Institute indicates that less than one per cent of development assistance directed towards forests, biodiversity and climate between 2011 and 2020 supported Indigenous and local-community land tenure and forest management.
Indigenous representatives may now be visible in plenary halls, but visibility is not fiscal sovereignty.
Worse, poorly governed conservation and carbon projects can produce “green grabbing”: restricting communities’ use of ancestral territories while states, project developers or carbon-market intermediaries control the resulting environmental assets.
The burden of conservation remains local, while tradable credits, data and reputational benefits flow elsewhere.
A more credible model requires three institutional changes
First, climate funds should establish direct, simplified funding windows for Indigenous organisations, with trusted fiscal agents providing technical support without acquiring decision-making authority.
Second, free, prior and informed consent must include the enforceable right to reject, renegotiate or withdraw from projects, not merely the opportunity to attend consultations.
Third, land tenure, ecological data rights and transparent benefit-sharing agreements should be prerequisites for nature-based credits, rather than safeguards added after investment decisions have been made.
Indigenous knowledge does not need further diplomatic veneration.
It needs jurisdiction, secure land rights and control over finance.
Until international institutions transfer material authority alongside rhetorical recognition, the celebration of Indigenous wisdom will remain a convenient form of symbolic justice, practised by a global order still unwilling to surrender either capital or control….PACNEWS
Jack Huang is a former consultant with the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology and founder of the Global SDGs Alliance.
