In this bulletin:
1. PALAU — Vanuatu journalist stranded in Manila after removal from Palau
2. PACIFIC — Taiwan Foreign minister heads to Palau for Pacific Islands Forum side events
3. PNG — Bougainville referendum results tabled
4. NZ — Fiji Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on NZ tour
5. PACIFIC — MSG Secretariat meets ULMWP President Benny Wenda
6. PACIFIC — ‘Blue corridors’ in mind for Pacific’s whale highways
7. SOL — Solomon Islands Opposition leader Sogavare Urges Gov’t to Aid Cyclone Victims
8. PACNEWS BIZ — FISH4ACP-supported investment boosts tuna handling in the Marshall Islan
9. PACNEWS BIZ — Fuel runs short, Gavoka sounds warning
10. PACNEWS DIGEST — The Pacific Islands return to the International Comparison Programme after 15 years: Why does it matter?
11. PACNEWS DIGEST — Reimagining Climate Adaptation through the Pacific Way
12. PACNEWS DIGEST — From Perception to Action: How Art is Reshaping Climate Narratives
PALAU – DEPORTATION: PACNEWS PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Vanuatu journalist stranded in Manila after removal from Palau
By Pita Ligaiula in Koror, Palau
KOROR, 28 AUGUST 2026 (PACNEWS) — Vanuatu Daily Post journalist Hilaire Bule remains in Manila awaiting confirmation of his onward travel after he was removed from Palau, where he had travelled to cover the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.
Bule was among ten Pacific journalists selected to cover the annual Forum Leaders meeting and participate in the regional media workshop ahead of the Leaders meeting.
Following his removal, Bule said Philippine Airlines officials were trying to arrange an alternative route through Fiji.
“They told me that they are working on Fiji Airways on 30 September Manila-Hong Kong and then Fiji but they haven’t come back to me yet,” he said.
Bule said the transit desk also warned him that Hong Kong authorities could refuse to accept him, potentially leaving him stranded in Manila.
“But the transit desk also told me that if Hong Kong refuses like Taiwan, then I am stuck in Manila,” he said.
Bule said he had not received a clear explanation for the decision and was concerned about the status of his passport.
“I haven’t seen my passport since they sent me out from Palau.
Meanwhile, a Palau immigration officer told journalists outside the airport that Bule could return to Palau after obtaining immigration pre-clearance.
“For your colleague from Vanuatu, what he needs to do is to go back to Manila, get his pre-clearance and get back to Palau on a Friday flight,” the immigration officer said.
The comments suggest that Bule’s difficulty returning to Palau is linked to new entry requirements for Vanuatu nationals.
Palau ended visa-on-arrival access for citizens of Vanuatu and 11 other designated countries under President Executive Order No. 499.
The new requirements took effect on 30 March 2026, requiring affected travellers to obtain written immigration pre-clearance before travelling to Palau. Airlines are responsible for preventing passengers from boarding without the required clearance.
The designated countries are Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu.
Bule said he was unaware that the new requirements could prevent him from entering Palau despite being officially selected to cover the Forum.
The case has raised questions about whether Pacific journalists selected to cover the Forum Leaders Meeting were adequately informed of Palau’s revised entry requirements before travelling.
“I don’t know about this policy change,” Bule said.
Bule’s removal comes days before the opening of the 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, which brings together Pacific leaders and regional stakeholders in Palau.
Bule remains in Manila awaiting confirmation of his onward travel arrangements to Vanuatu…. PACNEWS
PAC – DIPLOMACY: CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/WIRES PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Taiwan Foreign minister heads to Palau for Pacific Islands Forum side events
TAIPEI, 28 AUGUST 2026 (CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY/WIRES) — A delegation from Taiwan led by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung departed for Palau on Thursday to attend side events held alongside the 55th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).
Speaking to reporters before departing from Taoyuan International Airport, Lin said the 27 August to 03 -September visit aimed to boost trade, investment and tourism cooperation between Palau and Taiwan while creating opportunities for exchanges with other Pacific nations.
Lin said the Taiwanese delegation to Palau, Taiwan’s closest diplomatic ally geographically, includes government officials and business representatives.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Lin will take part in the 30th Taiwan/Republic of China-PIF Countries Dialogue, organised by the PIF Secretariat.
He will also attend the Pacific Prosperity Exhibition, where the United States, Japan and Australia will showcase Pacific cooperation and development projects, MOFA said.
The ministry added that Lin will hold sideline meetings with representatives from Taiwan’s Pacific allies and other partner countries to discuss promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
He is also scheduled to meet with Palauan President Surangel S. Whipps Jr. and Vice President Raynold B. Oilouch and visit Palau National Hospital and projects under the Taiwan-Palau Prosperity Project, MOFA said.
Though not a member of the PIF, Taiwan has been a “development partner” in PIF mechanisms since 1993. It usually holds the Taiwan/Republic of China-Forum Countries Dialogue and other side events alongside the PIF’s annual summit in the host country.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has gradually whittled away the number of Pacific Island countries with formal ties to Taipei, with only three remaining – Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
China says Taiwan is one of its provinces, not a country.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said Taipei had “no qualifications” to take part in the Forum, which is being held from Sunday until 4 September.
“The Taiwan authorities sending Lin Chia-lung and other Taiwan independence separatists scurrying about all over to curry favour is a futile attempt to grab attention,” it said in a statement.
The Forum’s Fiji-based secretariat did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Chinese comments.
China has expanded its influence in the Pacific in recent years through infrastructure financing, diplomatic outreach and security cooperation, which has prompted concern among traditional partners including Australia, New Zealand and the United States…. PACNEWS
PNG – BOUGAINVILLE INDEPENDENCE: NBC PNG NEWS PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Bougainville referendum results tabled
PORT MORESBY, 28 AUGUST 2028 (NBC PNG NEWS) — Papua New Guinea Parliament Monday witnessed the historic tabling of the 2019 Bougainville Referendum results, where 97.7 percent Bougainvilleans voted overwhelmingly for Independence.
Minister for Bougainville Affairs Manaseh Makiba also tabled the Joint Consultation Report and the Melanesian Framework Agreement.
The former is a record of the joint consultations between the two governments following the Referendum while the latter outlines the way forward if the National Parliament affirms the majority vote.
While the three documents were tabled, there was no full debate especially the Melanesian Framework Agreement.
The PNG and Bougainville Governments were unable to reach consensus on on a possible pathway in the event the National Parliament does not accept the referendum results.
Bougainville Affairs Minister Manaseh Makiba outlined that the Melanesian Framework agreement only caters to a vote by parliament, which is in favour of the referendum results.
He however reiterated that Parliament “retains the discretion to make any decision on the Referendum results as it considers appropriate.”
Makiba says in the event of a negative vote, a pathway can be carved out in line with the Bougainville Peace agreement.
Minister Makiba reminded members of the House of the enormous responsibility they have when they eventually vote on the referendum results, urging them not to forget the aspirations of Bougainvilleans captured in their referendum results…. PACNEWS
NZ – DIPLOMACY: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Fiji Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on NZ tour
WELLINGTON, 28 AUGUST 2026 (FIJI TIMES) — New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters has highlighted the importance of parliamentary cooperation in strengthening the close relationship between New Zealand and Fiji following a meeting with members of Fiji Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
In a post on X, Peters said he was pleased to meet the Fijian parliamentary delegation during its visit to New Zealand.
“Parliamentary cooperation is an important component of New Zealand’s close partnership with Fiji,” Peters said.
The delegation was led by Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence chair and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Lenora Qereqeretabua.
She was accompanied by committee deputy chair Rinesh Sharma, Assistant Minister for iTaukei Affairs Ratu Tuiwailevu, Assistant Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs Shalen Kumar, Taito Rokomatu and Virendra Lal.
Peters described the discussions positively, saying he was “pleased to meet” the committee.
No details on the visit have been released.
Fiji and New Zealand maintain longstanding bilateral relations, with parliamentary exchanges forming part of the broader relationship between the two Pacific nations…. PACNEWS
PAC – DIPLOMACY: PACNEWS/MSG SECRETARIAT PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
MSG Secretariat Meets ULMWP President Benny Wenda
PORT VILA, 28 AUGUST 2026 (PACNEWS/MSG SECRETARIAT) — The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat has held talks with United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) President Benny Wenda on issues affecting Melanesian communities, including human rights concerns in West Papua.
Wenda, accompanied by West Papua’s Special Envoy to Vanuatu, Morris Kaloran, made a courtesy visit to the MSG Secretariat on 25 August.
MSG Director General Dr Anna Naupa welcomed the delegation and reaffirmed the Secretariat’s role as a platform for dialogue, cooperation and engagement with Melanesian communities on shared values and priorities.
Naupa highlighted the importance of the Melanesian Way in strengthening solidarity through regular people-to-people exchanges among Melanesian communities across the MSG region.
Wenda welcomed the meeting and presented the ULMWP’s perspectives on ongoing issues concerning human rights in West Papua.
The meeting provided an opportunity for both sides to exchange views and reaffirmed the Secretariat’s commitment to constructive dialogue and collective approaches towards peaceful and inclusive pathways for addressing issues affecting Melanesian communities, including those in West Papua.
The ULMWP has held observer status with the MSG since 2015…. PACNEWS
PAC – WHALES: AAP PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
‘Blue corridors’ in mind for Pacific’s whale highways
SUVA, 28 AUGUST 2026 (AAP) — Whales are so revered in the Pacific, they have been labelled a ‘taonga‘, or treasure, and afforded legal personhood by Indigenous leaders.
Australian Aboriginal traditions believe whale and dolphin species carry the spirits of ancestors.
And in Tonga, one of the world’s great sanctuaries for the beloved marine mammals, whales are considered Tongan given so many are born in the country’s south Pacific waters.
“The value of whales is quite significant in a cultural sense, but also economically,” WWF Pacific’s conservation director Alfred Ralifo tells AAP.
While launching a new ocean protection plan this year, Tonga Prime Minister Fatafehi Fakafanua estimated the value of each whale to his country at US$2 million, through tourism and their value to the health of the seas.
“They are the great fertilisers of our oceans,” Lord Fakafanua said.
“Tonga will value nature’s contribution while it’s living and while it is thriving.”
What happens then, when whales migrate outside of a country’s ocean boundaries, into the high seas, where all nations have equal rights to navigate and fish?
A new plan, championed by universities and conservation groups, wants to investigate and then safeguard parts of these international waters where whales roam.
The Western Pacific Blue Corridors report, launched on Friday ahead of next week’s Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Palau, calls for partnership between intergovernmental, civil society and industry.
“The type of partnership that is transformative and robust enough to try and save these important species, and overall provide wider benefits across the ocean,” Ralifo says.
There are 34 species of whale and dolphin across the Pacific, with seven of the 14 great whale species classified as endangered or vulnerable.
Satellite tracking shows many species migrate and congregate along Australia’s shores and the Pacific, including in high density in southern Western Australia, eastern Papua New Guinea and between New Zealand and Tonga.
University of Auckland professor Rochelle Constantine said the tracking offered the opportunity for targeted high-impact conservation.
“The opportunity now is to connect, resource and scale what works,” Dr Constantine said, foreshadowing a push in Palau for political support.
Australia – and other nations – are already committed to protect more of its land and sea territory following a “30 by 30” pledge in 2022.
Bycatch and vessel strikes are recognised as leading human-caused reason for whale mortality, which Ralifo says adds to the impulse for shipping and fishery industry involvement.
Similar “blue corridor” models already exist covering Arctic waterways and the Western Pacific, from Canada’s coast to Chile.
“There, they have been able to work with some of the shipping companies who are championing this, identifying slow-down zones for the ships,” Ralifo says.
“We could learn from that,” he said…. PACNEWS
SOL – CYCLONE RESPONSE: INDEPTH SOLOMONS PACNEWS 1: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Solomon Islands Opposition leader Sogavare Urges Gov’t to Aid Cyclone Victims
HONIARA, 28 AUGUST 2026 (INDEPTH SOLOMONS) — The Solomon Islands Government has been urged to maintain food assistance to communities still struggling with food shortages more than four months after Tropical Cyclone Maila.
Opposition leader Manasseh Sogavare said reports from Mondo and Lale communities on Ranongga Island showed that some families were still unable to produce enough food to meet their daily needs.
Community leaders have reported that replanted food gardens are yet to produce sufficient crops to sustain families.
Continued bad weather and pest infestations have further slowed recovery, leaving some households dependent on previously distributed rice and wild taro, locally known as kakake.
“These reports are deeply concerning,” Sogavare said in a statement.
“The communities are working hard to restore their gardens, but conditions beyond their control are making recovery difficult,” he added.
“They are not asking for indefinite assistance. They are asking for continued food support until their gardens can once again sustain their families.”
The Government has said recovery assistance will take time, as funding announced from various sources must go through the respective approval and implementation processes.
Sogavare said affected communities should be kept informed about the recovery process but calls for patience must be matched with practical assistance for families facing immediate hardship.
“People understand that recovery takes time, but hunger cannot be put on hold while funding processes are completed,” he said.
“Where families are still unable to produce enough food, targeted food distributions should continue until they are able to meet their own needs again.”
Sogavare said the significant assistance announced by the Government and its development partners had understandably raised expectations among communities affected by the cyclone.
He said the people of Western and Choiseul provinces had shown considerable resilience in the face of the disaster and deserved continued support throughout the recovery period.
“The people of Western and Choiseul provinces have demonstrated tremendous strength and resilience.
“The Government must stand with them until they can restore their food security and livelihoods,” he said.
“The Government has asked affected communities to be patient. But patience does not put food on the table.
“Families need clear information, continued assistance and visible progress in their communities.” he said…. PACNEWS
PACNEWS BIZ
MARSH – FISHERIES: FAO PACIFIC PACNEWS BIZ: Fri 28 Aug 2026
FISH4ACP-supported investment boosts tuna handling in the Marshall Islan
MAJURO, 28 AUGUST 2026 (FAO PACIFIC) — During its first year of operation, a tuna loader supplied through the FISH4ACP project has more than doubled the speed of loading tuna into containers in Majuro, while also increasing the share of tuna landed at the dock for export rather than transhipped at sea.
FISH4ACP is a global aquatic value chain development initiative. It is working to strengthen the Marshall Islands’ position as a tuna hub by bringing more value onshore to boost local economic growth and employment. The tuna loader was supplied to help achieve this goal.
The Mark II Star Loader began operating in Majuro after being co-funded through a FISH4ACP grant awarded to Pacific International Inc (PII), which owns, operates and maintains the loader. Before it arrived in June 2025, PII workers unloaded tuna by hand – a slow and labour-intensive process that exposed frozen tuna to tropical heat and increased hygiene risks.
The investment has transformed tuna handling operations, according to Beau Bigler, Oceanic Fisheries Chief at the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA), FISH4ACP’s national partner. He monitors tuna transhipment operations in both the lagoon to carrier vessels and at dockside into freezer containers.
Before mechanisation, workers unloaded an average of 10 metric tonnes per hour, taking two and a half hours to fill one container, Bigler said. During the first six months of the loader’s operation, which rose to 19 metric tonnes an hour, and from January to June this year the loading rate increased to 27 metric tonnes an hour.
“They are now able to fill a container in less than one hour,” he said. Because of the loader’s efficiency, the percentage of tuna landed at the dock by fishing boats more than doubled in the past year.
Gene Muller, manager of the Marshall Islands-based tuna supplier Pacific Island Tuna, said the Star Loader “has made a huge difference, cutting the loading time for a container by around half.” Muller’s company sources sustainably caught tuna delivered by purse seiners to PII in Majuro and then supplied to the American retail giant Walmart as well as smaller U.S retailers.
Faster unloading is encouraging more purse seiners to use the dockside service instead of transhipping at sea while improving fish handling by reducing the time tuna is exposed to tropical temperatures, Bigler said.
“With the Star Loader, they are checking a lot of boxes for fish safety and hygiene,” he said. “Now the fish isn’t touched by anyone except the loaders inside the holds of the purse seiners.” Improved hygiene is also an important compliance requirement for the Marshall Islands’ effort to gain European Union certification for fish exports to the bloc’s 27 member countries.
Jojo Kramer, manager of Kramer Dock where the loader is used, said that it has made dockside tuna unloading faster and more efficient than transhipment. Bigler pointed out that Kramer Dock handled 12 000 metric tonnes of tuna in 2025, 33 percent more than in 2022. Dockside landings increased from 4 percent of total tuna tonnage in 2022 to 9.5 percent in 2025, while transhipment declined, he said.
“The FISH4ACP project and the FAO have helped [develop the fishery] a lot,” Bigler said. “The Star Loader is a tangible outcome.”
Encouraged by the results, other donors are interested in helping to finance the purchase of a second loader.
“There is definitely space for two Star Loaders [at the Kramer Dock] and this would double the speed of unloading one vessel, or allow for two vessels to be unloaded simultaneously,” Bigler said.
FISH4ACP is an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) aimed at making fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific more sustainable. FISH4ACP is implemented by FAO and partners with funding from the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)…. PACNEWS
FIJI – AIRLINE/FUEL: FIJI TIMES PACNEWS BIZ: Fri 28 Aug 2026
Fuel runs short, Gavoka sounds warning
SUVA, 28 AUGUST 2026 (FIJI TIMES) — Until fuel supplies are restored at the Nadi International Airport, airlines have been advised to refuel at other airports before arriving in Fiji.
Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Viliame Gavoka said the advisory remained in force following an incident last week involving Virgin Australia flight to Brisbane from Nadi to make an unscheduled stop at Noumea in New Caledonia because of limited fuel supplies at Nadi Airport.
Gavoka said the shortage followed disruptions to fuel supplies after the Strait of Hormuz crisis, while increased airline operations had placed further pressure on available stocks.
“Now that all the airlines are flying with full force,” he said.
“The demand is much greater than the supply,” Gavoka said the situation was expected to stabilise within days, with a new fuel shipment due to arrive by the end of the month.
He said airlines had been issued a notice advising them to refuel at other airports before arriving in Nadi because there was no surplus fuel available at the airport.
“What we normally do is what we call a no-term. A no-term is a notice to air partners. And we told them, look, we cannot refuel in Nadi. Fill up before you come to Nadi, because we knew that the supply was limited in Nadi.”
Gavoka said the measure was necessary to ensure fuel remained available for Fiji Airways and medical evacuation services. He said the advisory remained in force until the new shipment arrived and supplies at Nadi Airport were restored…. PACNEWS
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
The Pacific Islands return to the International Comparison Programme after 15 years: Why does it matter?
By Rui Costa, Marko Rissanen
NADI, 28 AUGUST 2026 (WORLD BANK) — Stretching across vast distances of ocean, the Pacific is home to some of the world’s most geographically dispersed countries. That geography can make data collection a challenge. Yet, after more than a decade, 17 Pacific Islands’ economies are once again coming together to participate in the International Comparison Programme (ICP), bringing the region back into the global statistics that help measure poverty, living standards and economic performance.
The ICP produces Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs), which allow to compare what people can buy in different countries by accounting for differences in prices, rather than exchange rates. The cost of a bag of rice, a bus ride, or an appointment with the doctor will vary in each country. Identifying those differences is part of the work done by the ICP, led by the Development Data Group, the World Bank Group’s development data hub, through the coordination of internationally comparable price surveys and the compilation of detailed GDP expenditure data from more than 175 countries.
The Pacific Islands last participated in the ICP in 2011. Their return marks the culmination of a long-standing effort by Pacific Islands countries and territories to rejoin, led by the Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the World Bank Group’s ICP and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The effort has been supported through financing from the World Bank Group’s International Development Association (IDA) under the Statistical Innovation and Capacity Building in the Pacific Islands (PACSTAT) project.
Since 2011, PPPs for these economies have been extrapolated using available economic data. While these extrapolations can provide reasonable short-term estimates, their reliability declines as more time passes, making periodic benchmark PPPs based on direct data collection essential.
Over the past 15 years, the importance of PPPs has expanded considerably. They underpin Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) monitoring, global poverty measurement, and a wide range of applications and indicators used by the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United Nations, while also supporting policy analysis and research worldwide. The participation of the Pacific Islands in the ICP will ensure that these economies are represented through direct measurement, rather than relying solely on extrapolations.
Overcoming challenges through innovation and digitalisation
One distinctive feature of the Pacific region is the vast distance separating many of its islands. For example, Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia are more than 4,200 miles apart – farther than the distance between Miami, Florida, and Anchorage, Alaska. In addition, many Pacific Islands’ economies have populations below 400,000, with places such as Tokelau and Niue having fewer than 2,000 residents. This geographic isolation and limited economic scale can make access to a wide range of goods and services more difficult, requiring careful survey planning and implementation to achieve reliable
Despite these challenges, national authorities across the Pacific region have long recognised the importance of producing benchmark PPPs. Sustained cooperation among participating economies, SPC, the World Bank Group, and ADB has been central to advancing this work and ensuring the production of high-quality PPPs.
Through coordinated price surveys, shared standards, and robust quality assurance, the ICP framework ensures international comparability. Participation also strengthens national statistical systems by supporting Consumer Price Index (CPI) programmes, improving GDP expenditure estimates, modernising data collection, and building technical capacity beyond PPPs production.
Innovation and digitalisation have also played a critical role in supporting ICP implementation across the region. To facilitate price data collection, the SPC adopted the use of Survey Solutions – a survey management software developed by the World Bank Development Data Group – and created a Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) questionnaire specifically tailored for ICP price surveys. The system was designed and deployed within a few months, resulting in a field-ready solution by August 2025 – an achievement, given the complexity of ICP’s price collection requirements.
The successful example of the Pacific Islands
While the current primary focus is the collection of comparable household price data across Pacific Island’s economies, the compilation of detailed GDP expenditure data is taking place as well. Overall implementation progressed rapidly throughout 2025 and 2026. A regional workshop was organised in June 2025, survey price data was collected from August through December 2025, and a regional price validation workshop took place in April 2026. These milestones demonstrate the region’s commitment and capacity to participate successfully in the programme.
Additional rounds of data collection, validation, and compilation activities are planned for the coming months. They will support the publication of benchmark PPPs for Pacific Island economies in mid-2027, as part of the next ICP global release.
Looking ahead, the SPC and Pacific Islands economies are better positioned than ever to maintain active participation in the International Comparison Programme, building on newly established tools, systems, and technical expertise. The adoption of Survey Solutions also offers opportunities beyond the ICP itself, including potential applications in CPI data collection and other statistical programmes. By providing a digital platform with built-in quality controls and standardised data structures, the system helps reduce data entry errors and facilitates more efficient data validation.
The Pacific Islands’ return to the ICP demonstrates what can be achieved through partnership, innovation, and sustained investment in statistical capacity. In addition, it strengthens the ICP’s mission of ensuring that every economy – regardless of size or geographic isolation – is represented in global comparisons that inform development policy, economic analysis and international decision-making…. PACNEWS
Rui Costa is Statistical Analyst, International Comparison Programme, Development Data Group, World Bank
Marko Rissanen is Programme Manager, Development Data Group, World Bank
PACNEWS DIGEST
The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
Reimagining Climate Adaptation through the Pacific Way
By Reverend Dr Taufe M Lusama, Aquila Van Keuk
FUNAFUTI, 28 AUGUST 2026 (UNDP) — On the narrow atoll of Funafala, on the southern side of Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, Miliama watched the shoreline change.
As a child, the lagoon felt wide and playful – a place where children ran barefoot along the white sandy beach and where the rhythms of the ocean brought comfort rather than uncertainty. Today, the tides reach further inland. The sea swallows parts of the shore that once felt safe. Saltwater seeps into the land. The ground beneath feels less stable with each passing year.
But she remained. Because for Miliama, land was never just physical space. It was identity, belonging, and kinship.
In the Pacific, climate adaptation is not only about safeguarding infrastructure or managing environmental and economic risk. It is about protecting the relational bonds between people, land, ancestors, and future generations. Cultural continuity is not an afterthought, it is a key metric of development.
The question is no longer whether culturally-grounded climate adaptation can be done – but whether the international system can support solutions at the speed and scale required.
Understanding climate change from a Pasifika relational perspective
Life is inherently relational. Human wellbeing is inseparable from the wellbeing of the planet and the cosmos. There is no distinction between the physical and the spiritual worlds – the spiritual manifests in physical practices of rituals, protocols, and community governance.
In the fenua-based understanding of place, land is not just land, it is ocean, skies, people, ancestors, and spirit – all in mutual belonging, as kin. The fenua is boundless, in time and space, extending to include the past (ancestors) and the future (future generations) as the present can only find meaning when it is defined within the past and the future. Vaa fesokotaki (relational bonds) hold these together in sacred balance.
Protecting the fenua and vaa fesokotaki is a core part of cultural security: the protection of traditional knowledge systems, customary land tenure, governance structures, and Pacific people’s sacred connection to land and sea.
Climate change, such as rising seas, coastal erosion and extreme weather events, harm the fenua by disrupting relational bonds and severing continuity between past, present and future. For indigenous Tuvaluan’s this looks like saltwater bubbling up from the ground during king tides making it hard to grow the traditional crops that have nourished communities for generations, or the deterioration of coral reefs impacting communities cultural fishing grounds.
In this context, climate action is an act of relational care. People have a sacred responsibility to protect the fenua and the vaa fesokotaki. Within this worldview, cultural security is not separate from environmental protection. It emerges from maintaining relationships – between people and place, between present and future generations, and between cultural identity and physical territory.
Climate adaptation as cultural continuity
Pasifika relational worldviews fundamentally reshape what climate adaptation is, what it protects, and how success should be measured.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Tuvalu.
Tuvalu sits, on average, less than two metres above sea level, and Tuvalu’s entire population of around 11,500 people live within one kilometre of the ocean. Rising seas, coastal erosion, recurrent king tides, and extreme weather events are not just theoretical projections. They are felt realities.
According to technical modelling undertaken by UNDP in Tuvalu, and consistent with IPCC sea-level rise scenarios, nearly half of the land area of the capital of Funafuti will become routinely inundated during normal monthly high tides by 2050 to 2060. By 2100, less than 10 percent of the land area will remain above the reach of annual high spring tide events.
In this context, adaptation is both a future consideration and a present necessity for survival – of all life systems and the vaa fesokotaki that connect them.
To meet this need, The Government of Tuvalu and UNDP are working together to build creative, transformational and holistic adaptation solutions based on the scientific evidence and local context. The Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project (TCAP) is one of those solutions. Funded by the GCF and the governments of Tuvalu, Australia and New Zealand, and implemented by UNDP, TCAP Phase 1 was completed in 2025.
Across Fogafale and the outer islands of Nanumea and Nanumaga, the project has strengthened nearly 2.9 kilometres of vulnerable shoreline and created over 7.3 hectares of reclaimed, elevated land in Funafuti, providing safe space for communities and future development.
This is not incremental adaptation. It is adaptation at the scale of survival.
TCAP brings together infrastructure, planning, and capacity. More than 200 national stakeholders have been trained in coastal management, while risk-informed planning tools such as the LiDAR data and risk and hazard platforms are guiding long-term decision-making.
Reflecting the Pasifika principle of mutual contradictions, these interventions are informed by both scientific evidence and Indigenous knowledge. Berm-top barriers constructed from sand-filled geotextile bags are covered with soil and planted with vegetation, allowing them to become part of the natural environment. Meanwhile, coral nurseries have been established to rehabilitate reef ecosystems and strengthen natural coastal protection. The elders’ knowledge of seasons, currents and plant species is critical to success.
The next phases of TCAP are already underway and will protect approximately 1,170 metres of coastline and deliver an additional 13.6 hectares of raised land designed to remain above future sea levels.
TCAP demonstrates what climate adaptation requires in small island states: scale, coordination, and sustained investment.
This is about more than just infrastructure. It is about ensuring that communities can remain in their ancestral lands – retaining connection to land, culture, and identity, while creating the conditions for future generations to stay. In doing so, it is an important step in building cultural security.
But in Tuvalu, adaptation is also inseparable from questions of sovereignty. TCAP supports national security through safeguarding the physical territory upon which statehood is currently recognised under international law. This goes hand in hand with The Government of Tuvalu’s advocacy for the formal recognition of statehood irrespective of the existence of physical territory and is aligned with the Pacific’s Declaration on the Continuity of Statehood and the Protection of Persons in the Face of Climate Change-Related Sea-Level Rise.
An invitation for the global community
The Pacific is not short on solutions. TCAP is proof that with the right partnerships, investment and drive the continuity of a nation can be safeguarded – in terms of both cultural and national security.
What the region faces is a gap between climate finance needs and climate finance flows, between ambition and implementation. Closing that gap requires more than just projects. It requires systems that connect finance to policy, and policy to delivery that is grounded in local realities and wisdom, and capable of operating at scale. Indigenous knowledge must be integrated and embraced as a critical part of policy design.
COP31 is an important opportunity for world leaders to come together and commit to climate adaptation at scale across the Pacific. At the same time, topics such as compensation for non-economic loss and damage and continuity of statehood despite loss of territory must also be on the agenda.
But above all, climate action requires the spirit of alofa (love), aava (respect), and tiute (responsibility). Pre-COP in Fiji and Tuvalu in October this year is an invitation for the global community to engage in climate dialogue, consensus and action through the Pacific Way.
The TCAP project has received funding from the GCF and the governments of Tuvalu, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Miliama Lupe was a respected Tuvaluan elder from Funafala who passed away earlier this year. We pay our deepest respects to Miliama and all the Pacific ancestors who have nurtured the land across generations…. PACNEWS
This blog is co-authored between Rev. Dr Taufe M Lusama who is a theologian with a deep sense for climate justice from the Ekalesia Kelisiano Tuvalu, serving as the Director of the Institute for Climate Indigenous Knowledge within the Pasifika Communities University, an ecumenical educational institution based in Suva, Fiji, and Aquila Van Keuk, UNDP Pacific Office Policy, Innovation and Partnerships Analyst.
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The views expressed in PACNEWS are those of agencies contributing articles and do not necessarily those of PINA and/or PACNEWS
From Perception to Action: How Art is Reshaping Climate Narratives
Making climate change visible and personal
PARIS, 28 AUGUST 2O26 (UNESCO) — Selected through an open call for established initiatives across the Asia-Pacific region, the six projects demonstrated how art can contribute to climate awareness, community participation and locally grounded action.
Lan Qixia (China) presented an eco-art exhibition that transformed mountain waste into 12 installations along a 2.5-kilometre trail. Young people and community volunteers participated in their design and creation, inviting visitors to reflect on waste, responsibility and their relationship with nature.
Yujin Joung (Republic of Korea) shared Sun as a New Currency, a speculative fiction and collective world-building project exploring inequalities embedded in green transitions. It centers perspectives often marginalised in climate discourse, including those of women and laborers, such as Jeju’s haenyeo, and offers ways of understanding the environment beyond data and statistics.
Hanna Park (Republic of Korea) presented Decomposer, an exhibition in Jeju using video and discarded materials to ask whether art can break down fixed perceptions and bring overlooked ecological traces back into awareness.
Making the “Invisible” Visible, by Sonali Verma and Pritish Bali (India), used thermal cameras and women’s voices to document the effects of extreme indoor heat on women performing unpaid domestic work, bringing a hidden, gendered climate reality into public view and policy discussions.
Pubarun Basu (India) shared Dhara, which trained young people along the Ganga–Yamuna river system to document ecological change and community stories. The initiative connected climate narratives with lived realities while building local archives and fostering “narrative sovereignty” among frontline riverine communities.
Tanmay Shah (India) presented Borrowed Earth, an exhibition using painting and photography to make heat, water stress and pollution feel close and personal. Through visual metaphor and emotional resonance, it invited reflection on environmental responsibility.
From information to new ways of seeing
The panel discussion following the presentations explored how art can contribute to climate action, how artists can work responsibly with communities and what young practitioners can learn from existing initiatives.
The panelists observed that art does not necessarily prescribe solutions. Its distinctive contribution lies in making climate change tangible, challenging established perspectives and creating spaces in which people can reflect, participate and act.
Scientific evidence is essential for understanding the climate crisis, but data alone may not always convey how environmental change is experienced in people’s homes, livelihoods and relationships with their surroundings. Through images, stories, materials and shared creative processes, art can translate abstract information into experiences that feel immediate and personal.
When artworks and visual archives are deeply rooted in local contexts, they can also make overlooked ecological realities and community knowledge more visible. In doing so, artistic practice can foster recognition, emotional connection and a stronger sense of shared responsibility.
Working with, rather than speaking for, communities
A central theme of the discussion was the challenge of moving beyond the position of an “external observer” and developing genuine forms of co-creation with communities.
Several speakers described how their practice had evolved from individual documentation towards participatory approaches. By sharing cameras, recording tools and creative methods with community members, artists can enable people to document ecological change and become the narrators of their own experiences.
At the same time, the panelists acknowledged the need for artists to reflect continuously on their own position. When working outside their own communities, artists must consider whether and how they can represent experiences that are not their own.
Some speakers suggested that the distance between an artist and a community cannot always be eliminated. Rather than concealing it, artists can acknowledge this distance – and the doubts, misunderstandings and processes of learning associated with it – as part of the work itself. Transparency and self-reflection can help create more honest and responsible forms of engagement.
The discussion highlighted that meaningful collaboration requires time, trust and reciprocity. Communities should not be treated simply as subjects or sources of material; they should have an active role in shaping how their experiences are documented, interpreted and shared.
Building sustained and responsible artistic practices
The speakers also offered advice to young artists seeking to engage with climate and environmental issues. They encouraged artists to begin with a concrete issue, place or lived experience rather than rushing to respond to broad global concepts. A deep understanding of local ecologies, histories and communities can provide a stronger foundation for meaningful artistic practice.
They also stressed the importance of building long-term collaborative networks rather than focusing only on one-off artistic outputs. Workshops, community archives, youth training and grassroots partnerships can create value that continues beyond the duration of an exhibition or individual artwork.
The panelists further acknowledged the structural contradictions faced by artists working on climate issues, including travel, material consumption and the environmental footprint of exhibitions. Such challenges cannot always be resolved through individual lifestyle choices alone. Rather than claiming ethical perfection, artists were encouraged to engage openly with these tensions and, where appropriate, make them part of the creative conversation.
Art as a starting point for collective action
The webinar demonstrated that art could contribute to climate action not only by communicating environmental challenges, but also by making overlooked experiences visible, strengthening community agency and creating new relationships between people and their environments.
By combining creativity with sustained local engagement, artists can help transform climate change from a distant global concern into a shared and lived reality – and a starting point for reflection, dialogue and collective action…. PACNEWS
