Praneeta Prakash 
[Supplied]
Fiji has updated Asia-Pacific leaders on preparations to host the Pacific Pre-COP meeting in Nadi this October, with Minister for Climate Change Lynda Tabuya outlining the Pacific’s priorities ahead of COP31 in Turkey.
Delivering Fiji’s national statement at the Ninth Session of the Committee on Environment and Development in Bangkok, Thailand, Tabuya said the Pre-COP will bring Pacific and key global leaders together to build consensus around key regional priorities.
This includes keeping the 1.5°C temperature goal within reach, improving access to climate finance, and strengthening the climate-ocean nexus as a central pillar of global climate action.
She also highlighted the appointment of the Pacific Special Envoys to COP31, who will work alongside Pacific leaders to ensure the region speaks with one strong voice during the negotiations.
She says collaboration, coordination and collective action must be the foundation of Agenda 2030 and beyond.
The Minister says Fiji’s Climate Change Act 2021 demonstrates the country’s whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach by bringing together communities, traditional resource owners, provincial and local authorities, civil society, and the private sector and development partners to deliver climate action.
She reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to protecting biodiversity through ecosystem restoration, stronger environmental legislation and enforcement, expanded protected areas, and community-led conservation, while ensuring Pacific priorities remain at the forefront of global climate negotiations.
