Shania Shayal Prasad 
File Photo
Fiji has called for urgent global action on climate change, warning that rising sea levels and extreme weather are already displacing communities.
Small island countries like Fiji are facing immediate threats to their survival.
SIDS Group Chair Inia Seruiratu told delegates at the 151st Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva that the climate crisis is not a distant threat but a lived reality.
Seruiratu is urging immediate international action to tackle climate change.
“So many bureaucracies come to it. We have technical people. We have negotiators but we need decision makers. We need political will and commitment.”
Seruiratu revealed that six coastal communities have already been relocated, with 42 more awaiting movement.
“More mitigation now means lesser adaptation in the future but for us, adaptation is about survival. We need adaptation funds in order to survive.”
Speaker of Parliament Filimone Jitoko also warned that climate-driven relocation threatens indigenous Fijians’ cultural and traditional ties.
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