The Pacific political champion for loss and damage has told a Pacific symposium that the region losses from climate impacts go far beyond money.
Tonga’s Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni said non-economic losses and damages from the climate crisis must be recognised in policy and finance.
He was speaking at the Pacific Symposium on Loss and Damage, which is part of the pre-COP31 meeting currently being held in Nadi. Pacific leaders and climate experts have gathered to discuss Pacific priorities head of the annual UN climate talks next month.
Hu’akavameiliku, who is a former Tonga prime minister, said Pacific losses go well beyond what can be measured, in money, culture, identity, heritage, biodiversity, health and community connections.
He said that traditional knowledge must be explicitly recognised in loss and damage policy and finance.
“These losses are largely undercounted,” he told the symposium.
He shared the five key Pacific messages, which are:
- Pacific losses go far beyond money, and non-economic losses and damages must be recognized in policy and finance.
- Recognition is not enough. Finance must be accessible, adequate, predictable, grant-based, and reach the communities without adding to national debt.
- Our losses, our solutions, indigenous and traditional knowledge and responses must be locally led.
- A single methodology cannot capture all Pacific losses. Flexible and locally grounded methods are needed, consistent enough to build a credible shared regional evidence base through the Pacific Loss and Damage Outlook.
- Ambitious climate action remains fundamental and keeping 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach is the best solution to prevent loss.
Hu’akavameiliku said what many do not see hardly receives any financial support, which affects the whole climate resilience cycle.
“What is not counted is rarely financed,” he said. “That is why evidence is the foundation of our case for action and for finance.”
Hu’akavameiliku pointed to the El Niño drought now affecting his own island nation, which last month triggered a fifth payout to Tonga from the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), as an example of a Pacific-owned system delivering early money for early action.
He stressed that insurance is not enough, as some impacts lie beyond what can be avoided, adapted to or insured.
The Fund responding to Loss and Damage received 176 funding requests from 119 countries amounted to US$2.8 billion.
That is more than 11 times what the Fund has available.
“Responding to loss and damage is not a charity,” he said.
“The advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which our region fought for, confirmed that States have binding obligations on climate change and breaching them has legal consequences.
“This is a matter of climate justice.”
Hu’akavameiliku requested donors and partners that Pacific countries rally around these five key messages as one regional voice.
The Pacific’s findings on economic and non-economic loss and damage will be presented at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, where Pacific leaders continue to call for evidence-based finance and actions to support vulnerable communities.
