A Pacific Ocean and Climate Crisis Assessment report prepared by more than 100 scholars from the Pacific, working in association with community leaders across the South Pacific, was launched on 11 November on the sidelines of the 29th Conference of Parties (COP 29) meeting in Azerbaijan.
The project provides an interdisciplinary, multicultural and transnational study of the impacts of climate change and community responses, covering 16 Pacific Island countries and territories. It was a response to calls by Pacific leaders in various climate change forums for region-wide research to be conducted reflecting local voices.
Funded through the New Zealand International Development Cooperation Programme, it involved all the universities in New Zealand, the Fiji-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP), national universities of Fiji, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Hawaii, and three Australian universities.
The 1,000-page report in two volumes was three years in the making, from 2021 to 2024. It is an attempt by academic institutions in the Pacific region to bring traditional knowledge and indigenous voices to the climatic change mitigation debate in the international arena.