Extreme heat is increasingly linked to problems like premature births or underweight babies, the UN climate chief warned yesterday as Fiji hosted talks ahead of a major summit. This week’s meetings in the city of Nadi and on the atoll nation of Tuvalu are aimed at drawing the world’s attention to life on the frontline of climate change in the Pacific. They are a precursor to the larger UN-sponsored global climate summit -- known as COP31 -- to be held next month in Turkey.
Highlighting the need for urgent action, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell cited a new survey showing more than two-thirds of health professionals across five continents had seen complications caused by intense heat in the past five years. "Climate-driven extreme heat during pregnancy is increasingly linked to premature birth, stillbirth, low birth weight, and maternal complications,” he added.
The South Pacific is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to global warming — from rising sea waters jeopardising homes to increasing temperatures causing coral bleaching. Fiji’s climate minister Lynda Tabuya called for commitments from developing nations to a "just transition” — with support for "countries in the world that suffer the most”.
A UN report released in August found developing countries needed $310-$365bn to adapt, yet had only $26bn in adaptation finance available in 2023. "We rely on and we appeal to countries to commit to climate finance,” Tabuya said.
Head of this year’s climate negotiations Australia -- a major coal exporter -- faces accusations of hypocrisy. Its sales of the fossil fuel have boomed on the back of demand caused by the Middle East conflict. Tabuya told journalists there had been "frank discussion” with Australian counterpart Chris Bowen and Pacific officials. "Yes, we have sentiments expressed from certain countries,” she said, when asked if she backed calls from other Pacific leaders for Australia to halt expansions of coal and gas projects.
"But for the Pacific, it’s important at this pre-COP that we find common ground. There will be things that we disagree on, but we can agree to disagree,” Tabuya said.
Also high on the agenda is a push by Pacific leaders for the world to stick to a target of limiting global warming to 1.5C and give more attention to the impact on oceans. "Keeping 1.5 alive means hope -- hope for Tuvalu, hope for Kiribati, hope for small island atolls around the world,” Bowen told journalists. "We can actually come to this conversation and say, ‘as a fossil fuel exporting nation, we can bring something different to the table’,” he said.
Sea levels are also rising at a record pace, driven by warming oceans and glacier melt, according to the August UN report. Up to 1.2bn people could be displaced by 2050, with Pacific island countries experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average, the report released in August said.