Mosese Raqio 
[Source: Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection - Fiji/ Facebook]
A major regional workshop involving representatives from 16 Pacific Island countries has opened with a powerful warning: climate finance will fail the region unless it is designed to protect the people most at risk.
Opening the workshop, Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Social Protection Eseta Nadakuitavuki delivered a direct message, the Pacific must sharpen its technical capacity to create gender-responsive, fund-ready climate projects that reach those who need support the most.
Hosted in partnership with GGGI, the NDC Partnership, UN Women and Environment and Climate Change Canada, the workshop focuses on ensuring climate finance is not only accessible but equitable.
Nadakuitavuki reminded participants that while the Pacific is “blessed and burdened” by its geography, the weight of climate change is not shared equally.
Women, children, persons with disabilities and those in informal work are being hit hardest as rising seas, extreme weather and economic pressures intensify across the region.
“Climate change is not gender-neutral. Disasters are not gender-neutral. Therefore, climate finance cannot be gender-neutral.”
The workshop aims to equip Pacific governments with stronger tools, deeper expertise and regional solidarity to ensure climate finance becomes a force for protection, resilience and inclusive development — not another layer of inequality.
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