Transcript
Opening the Climate Vulnerable Forum's Virtual Summit on Thursday, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine put forward the threats facing the Pacific.
"Like other vulnerable people around the world, we are already experiencing more frequent and more severe events due to climate change than ever before. Droughts, inundations, cyclones."
Like other speakers, Dr Heine drew on an October United Nations climate report which predicts disastrous consequences from global warming even at 1.5 degree celcius.
This is well below the current target of two degrees set by more than 200 countries signing the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Dr Heine says Pacific Islands will need more support if they are to adapt to climate change.
She says the world's most vulnerable countries and people have done the least to cause climate change, but are being hit first and hardest.
"At the same time, we do not see ourselves as victims. We believe in leading from the front and doing all we can to secure a safe and prosperous future for our people and future generations."
The Marshall Islands this week became the first country to submit targets to the United Nations after the Paris Agreement.
Reuters reports it has pledged to reduce emissions by at least 32 per cent below 2010 levels by 2025.
The Marshall Islands wants to reduce these levels by at least 45 percent by 2030.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she applauds Pacific nations for coming together in their response to climate change.
"The strongest message that's coming through is one of resiliance, is one of fighting to retain the right and ability to stay within the Pacific Islands homeland and to ensure that there is no excuse for climate inaction because we can turn this ship around."
The President of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, says the UN report made clear the threat posed by climate change.
"However, the report also gives a sense of hope that it is still possible to alter the initial trajectory from business as usual scenarios to bold commitments at the national level to curb our emissions."
Others were less hopeful, and more threatening.
Vanuatu's Foreign Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, says Vanuatu has benefited the least from fossil fuels but has been ravaged as a result.
He says he's putting the fossil fuel industry and the states that sponsor it on notice.
"My government is now exploring all avenues to utilise the judicial system in various jurisdictions - including under international law - to shift the costs of climate protection back onto the fossil fuel companies, the financial institutions and the governments that actively and knowingly created this existential threat to Vanuatu."
In a similar call, the October UN report urgently recommended taxing carbon emissions.
