On the brink of ruin due to climate change, Pacific Islanders know who is to blame
Pointing at the murky water of the Nadi River, Lessy Rokocoko remembers the four homes that her neighbours lost.
“There was a big flood in the village and they were swept away,” the 31-year-old mother of two says, with a weariness in her voice.
This is Yavusania, a small village near the west coast of Fiji that is under constant threat of flooding.
The tranquility, with large mango and coconut trees swaying in the gentle sea breeze, can be deceiving: here lies the frontline of the climate crisis, where communities are fighting for their lives.
Nearby, Lessy’s two-year-old daughter Joanna frolics in the shrubbery. Her mother wonders what kind of future she can give her: “I don’t want her to see or experience what we experienced when we were growing up.
“We always have that feeling that maybe one day the flood will just take away my house. We are scared, but we are always ready.”
As she speaks, Lessy looks me dead in the eye: “In a bigger country like where you are from, you’ll never see or feel real climate change compared to our smaller islands.
“In reality, we are really facing climate change right now.”
Flooding is increasingly common in the low-lying coastal areas of Fiji – where 90 per cent of the population live – and across the 13 other Pacific Island nations.
Despite contributing to just 0.02 per cent of global emissions, the Pacific faces the most existential climate threats: rising sea levels could wipe away coastal communities, massive storms can lead to devastating floods and increasing ocean temperatures are destroying local marine ecosystems.
The islands are now urgently calling on the world to take drastic measures to limit global warming ahead of November’s COP31 summit in Antalya.
Looming over the meetings is the UN’s recent warning that the world will significantly overshoot the 1.5C climate target necessary to prevent irreversible climate harm. Under the current trajectory, the world could warm by up to 2.8C by the end of the century.
The islanders say that the funds provided for projects and initiatives to address the impacts of climate change are so far insufficient, with villages left to fend for themselves.
“Not a day goes by when we are just living happily on our own,” Lessy adds.
