The UN "pre-COP" climate summit kicked off on Monday in the Fijian city of Nadi, where Pacific leaders are seeking to draw the world's attention to life on the frontline of climate change.
"It is a great honour on behalf of the government and the people of Fiji, the honourable Prime Minister Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka to open the stakeholder programme of the Pacific pre-COP31," Fiji's climate minister Lynda Tabuya told the opening ceremony in Nadi.
This week's talks in Nadi and on the atoll nation of Tuvalu are a precursor to the larger UN-sponsored global climate summit -- known as COP31 -- to be held next month in Turkey.