UN pre-COP climate talks open in Fiji as Pacific leaders press for action

A United Nations "pre-COP" climate gathering opened on Monday, 5 October 2026, in the Fijian city of Nadi. This week's talks in Nadi and on the atoll nation of Tuvalu are a precursor to COP31, the UN-sponsored global climate summit to be held in Turkey next month.

Fiji's climate minister, Lynda Tabuya, addressed the opening ceremony. Pacific leaders are seeking to draw the world's attention to the effects of climate change on the region.

These points appear in reports by France 24 and The Hindu. France 24 credits the AFP news agency, and The Hindu's text closely matches it, so the coverage appears to trace to a single wire origin.

What is reported

According to France 24, Pacific leaders are pushing for the world to keep to a target of limiting global warming to 1.5C, to improve access to climate finance and to give more attention to the impact on oceans.

France 24 quoted Tabuya as saying at the ceremony: "Our prime minister will carry three clear messages to the leaders this week: keep 1.5 degrees within reach, make finance reach the communities that need it and give the ocean its rightful place in the climate regime".

According to France 24, officials have conceded that the guest list will be smaller than they had hoped. Fewer than a dozen world leaders have publicly confirmed they will attend. The Australian government said last month that 4,000 people from 60 nations would attend, without providing a full breakdown.

Top delegates will hold a one-day retreat on Tuvalu, France 24 reports, and only a handful of leaders are expected to join. Tuvalu is already laying plans to relocate its population if the country is consumed by the ocean, according to the outlet.

France 24 also cites a UN report released in August. It said Pacific island countries are experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average. It said developing countries need $310-$365 billion to adapt, while $26 billion in adaptation finance was available in 2023. The reports do not name the UN body behind it.

What each side says

• Australia: France 24 quoted Chris Bowen, Australia's climate minister and, according to the outlet, president of negotiations for COP31, as saying: "Today in Fiji, we are again calling on the world to match ambition with delivery".
• Tuvalu: Prime Minister Feleti Teo told the UN General Assembly, according to France 24: "Sea-level rise is not a future threat, it is a present reality".
• Activists: According to France 24, activists accuse Australia, which the outlet describes as a major coal exporter, of "double talk" on climate change. France 24 quoted Shiva Gounden of Greenpeace as saying Australia "must do much more to turn empty rhetoric into real action to end the fossil fuel chokehold".
• Australian officials insist the country is rapidly expanding its renewable energy sources, France 24 reports.
• Rajneel Singh, a marine scientist, was quoted by France 24 on the limited turnout expected in Tuvalu: "It does make you think nobody cares".

The reports do not name the leaders who have confirmed attendance, give reasons for the limited turnout, or describe any outcomes from the talks, which had only just opened.

Analysis

The gathering gives Pacific governments a chance to set out priorities before COP31: the 1.5C target, finance and oceans. How much weight those priorities carry may depend partly on who attends, and the reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not include actual attendance figures. A low turnout could limit the meeting's visibility, though a smaller meeting does not by itself determine what negotiators later agree. Australia's role in leading the negotiations is likely to remain under scrutiny, with activists and officials offering opposing accounts of its record. The reports include no data that would allow either account to be tested.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.