Fiji has issued a strong appeal for Parliaments around the world to take the lead in accelerating climate adaptation, warning that even slight increases in global temperature significantly raise the cost and difficulty of safeguarding vulnerable island communities.
Speaking at a panel discussion titled “Enhancing Resilience: How Can Parliaments Deliver on Adaptation”, Leader of the Opposition, Inia Seruiratu, stressed that meeting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit is a matter of survival for Pacific nations.
“Our future is dependent on the successful delivery of the Paris Agreement’s objectives and its ability to limit global average temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius,” he said.
“Every incremental increase in global average temperature rise increases the costs and reduces the feasibility of robust adaptation solutions for our island communities.”
Seruiratu highlighted Fiji’s National Climate Change Act, which formally declares a climate emergency, as a global benchmark for embedding climate resilience into governance, budgeting, and investment systems.
“Our constituents’ voices must not only be heard – they must shape the decisions we make. Adaptation must be at the heart of governance.”
The Parliamentary Meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) was jointly organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the National Congress of Brazil, and hosted at the Legislative Assembly of the State of Pará (ALEPA) in Belém.
