Climate Action
Fight or Flight: 3 Pacific Islands Respond to Climate Change
January 14, 2026
During the December 2024 Climate Hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Pacific Island states took center stage. Concerned about the existential threat of sea level rise that they are currently facing, the Pacific Island states urged the Court to incorporate climate justice into the international legal framework. The Court’s response was groundbreaking.
For the first time, the Court ruled that not only are greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting states responsible for their emissions, but crucially for the Pacific Island states, it also advised that island states will continue to legally exist even if climate change results in their entire territory being swallowed by the ocean. How this will be implemented in practice, is a conundrum that was left to the Pacific Islands themselves to work out.
Regardless of whether or not GHG emissions are brought under control, NASA estimates that Pacific Island states will face at least 15 centimeters of sea level rise in the next three decades. Confronted with this unavoidable threat, these nations have begun proposing a range of solutions to safeguard their long-term survival.
Tuvalu: The Last Generation of Islanders
Tuvalu, a low-lying island nation in the South Pacific Ocean, is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to sea-level rise. In a matter of decades, Tuvalu will be underwater. For up to three thousand years, the Tuvalu islands nourished and sustained its people, but today, the last generation of Tuvaluan islanders living on Tuvalu’s soil may have already been born.
he sea keeps us alive, but at the same time, it slowly devours us. It devours our memories and our culture bit by bit. And that scares me.
Grace Maile, climate activist from Tuvalu
In response to rising sea levels, Tuvalu has started the process of recreating itself as a digital nation. This digital nation would be a way for the country to continue existing politically and culturally even if its physical territory becomes uninhabitable. This concept may sound dystopian, but Tuvalu has already begun digitally recreating its islands to preserve its landscapes, heritage, and identity for future generations who may no longer be able to live on Tuvaluan soil. By establishing a digital nation, Tuvalu hopes to maintain government functions, protect its sovereignty, and stay connected with the Tuvaluan diaspora, no matter where its people ultimately resettle.
Our land, our ocean, our culture are the most precious assets of our people – and to keep them safe from harm, no matter what happens in the physical world, we’ll move them to the cloud.
Simon Kofe, Tuvalu Minister for Justice, Communication, and Foreign Affairs
Regardless of whether Tuvalu is able to successfully recreate itself in the digital world, their loss will be immense. The digital world cannot recreate the feeling of the sun on your face, the comfort of walking down the streets you have known since childhood, or sense of continuity from wandering the same halls of the local school your parents attended. A digital Tuvalu might be able to connect its people all around the world, but the climate change induced sea level that swallowed their country will still constitute an injustice of historic proportions.
Kiribati: Fleeing Rising Oceans
Kiribati is a collection of 32 atolls, and one raised coral island spread across the central Pacific Ocean, straddling the equator and stretching over an area roughly the size of the continental United States. Most of this island nation is less than three meters above sea level and all of its islands are below four meters. The low-lying nature of these islands means that there is no higher ground to flee to when sea water levels rise.
In response to this, Kiribati is promoting a policy of “migration with dignity” as a part of a nation-wide relocation strategy. Migration with dignity is a policy that encourages I-Kiribati to move abroad for educational and job opportunities, in hopes that they will support other Kiribati migrants in the future as well as send remittances back home. The policy is an attempt to change the narrative of climate movement, and allow I-Kiribati to avoid the label of climate refugees, and instead retain autonomy and choose to leave for educational opportunities and a secure future away from their low-lying atoll homes.
Climate change and sea level rise not only threatens Kiribati’s habitable land, but is devastating for local agriculture as well. Drought and saltwater intrusion have degraded freshwater supplies, making safe drinking water harder to access. Compromised water systems increase the risk of waterborne diseases. Plus, with limited arable land, most food must now be imported and is often highly processed, contributing to rising rates of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes.
In an effort to preserve the presence of the population in the Pacific Islands, the Kiribati government has purchased a 5,460-acre parcel of land on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island from the Fiji government. The land is intended both to help grow food for Kiribati and to serve as a potential refuge if rising seas make the atolls of Kiribati uninhabitable.
We must all do what we can […] Because it isn’t only Kiribati that’s at risk, but all of us – here, we’re just experiencing these effects first.
Dr. Wendy Snowdon, the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Liaison Officer to Kiribati
Fiji: 100 Days of Flooding
Around 1,000 B.C., the first Austronesians settled on Fiji. The archipelagic country, consisting of over 332 islands in the South Pacific, recognizes that it will be able to manage losses associated with sea level rise, but won’t be able to avoid them entirely. In this way, they are significantly better off than countries such as Tuvalu and Kiribati, but Fiji will still experience the devastating impacts of global warming. According to NASA, Fiji is likely to experience 100 days of flooding annually by the end of the century.
As Fiji faces different challenges than Tuvalu and Kiribati, they have also taken a different approach to adaptation. The least costly approach to climate change adaptation for Fiji is to move their populations from the coast and resettle them in parts of the island that are less likely to be flooded in the short-term. However, as of 2024, 90% of Fiji’s population live in coastal regions, and 50,696 people live less than 1 meter above sea level. This means that not only are relocation policies costly, but they will also affect the majority of Fiji’s population.
Although Fiji is able to move its population to higher grounds, this is not the be-all and end-all solution for the climate-related challenges it currently faces. For example, because of the changing precipitation patterns and rising temperatures, Fijians face an increased risk of contracting dengue fever, heat illness and mortality, and flooding.
Who is responsible?
The Pacific Island states, Tuvalu, Fiji, and Kiribati included, have contributed an estimated 0.03% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this, they are disproportionately suffering the effects of climate change, to the extent that they may one day cease to exist.
For the Pacific Islanders living in thesepre-apocalyptic times, the question of who isresponsible for climate change and who should take responsibility for paying for damages is central. For years, the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) fought to seek this answer, and this year, they successfully urged the International Court of Justice to deliver an opinion.
With the Court’s ruling that emittersare responsible for the damage caused by GHG emissions, there is hope for justice for these islands, and hope that high emitting states will finally be able to be held accountable to international law. While it may be too late to stop the 15 centimeters of sea level rise in the next 30 years as predicted by NASA, we must keep fighting for those living in the world’s most vulnerable countries.
What I fight for is for my people and our children to live in dignity without the fear of climate change denying them that freedom.
Cynthia Houniuhi, President of the PISFCC
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