Prime Minister Of Tuvalu Calls For Global Action On Sea Level Rise At Ocean Summit In France
Prime Minister Teo's remarks came as he joined other leaders and stakeholders, at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference currently convened in Nice, France, who are committed to enhancing resilience in coastal communities through innovative partnerships and …
Nice, France – Saturday, June 7, 2025 – During his address at the Ocean Rise and Resilience Coalition Summit, Prime Minister Hon. Feleti P. Teo of Tuvalu highlighted the urgent need for global collaboration to combat the existential threat posed by climate change and rising sea levels.
Prime Minister Teo emphasized the unique vulnerabilities faced by low-lying nations like Tuvalu, stating, 'Sea level rise poses the greatest existential threat to Tuvalu's economies, to our culture and heritage, and to the future viability of the very land that nourished and sustained our ancestors for centuries.'
He urged global leaders to recognize their collective responsibility, asserting, 'No nation, no city, and no community are immune to the impacts of climate change, nor should they be required to address the devastating effects of sea level rise on their own.'
Prime Minister Teo expressed strong support of the newly formed Ocean Rise and Coastal Resilience Coalition's mission and advocated for the promotion of key objectives. He called for mobilizing leaders and practitioners to share innovative solutions, integrating local and scientific knowledge for tailored adaptation strategies, and facilitating access to finance for infrastructure resilience.
'Finding the right solutions will require statesmanship and empathy, beginning with an acknowledgment that a situation globally caused must also have a globally just and equitable solution,' he stated.
Prime Minister Teo's remarks came as he joined other leaders and stakeholders, at the 3rd UN Ocean Conference currently convened in Nice, France, who are committed to enhancing resilience in coastal communities through innovative partnerships and shared solutions.
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NZ Herald
27-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Not only are rising seas causing people to leave, but warming waters are forcing out tuna
By morning's end, the pair had caught eight tuna - a haul far smaller than when Petaia's father taught him to fish 30 years earlier. 'We have to spend longer and go farther to get them,' the 48-year-old said as the fishermen unloaded their catch. 'I'm not sure there will be any tuna left by the time I'm my uncle's age,' added Smoliner, 22. Tuna is a pillar of life in the Pacific, where for centuries people have braved the ocean to bring back yellowfin, skipjack, bigeye and albacore for their families. In recent decades, as global demand for tuna has soared, Pacific Island nations including Tuvalu have propped up their struggling economies by selling licences to allow international fishing companies to trawl their vast exclusive economic zones. These seas provide as much as one-third of the world's tuna supply. But climate change is warming the world's oceans at an accelerating rate, threatening livelihoods. Scientists predict that climate change will push tuna away from Pacific Island nations and towards the high seas, where wealthier countries with large fishing fleets - China, Japan, South Korea and the United States - will catch them without paying licence fees. It is yet another climate danger for a country - population 10,000 - whose existence is already threatened by rising seas, increasingly powerful storms, and a potential exodus of people. 'It's ironic that the ocean, which has been the sustainer of our livelihood and economy, suddenly poses all these threats to us,' Tuvalu's Prime Minister, Feleti Teo, said in an interview here. Ranol Smoliner, right, and his uncle Kauaka Petaia fish for tuna in the Pacific Ocean near Funafuti, Tuvalu, in early April. Photo / Carolyn Van Houten, the Washington Post This low-lying atoll nation has become a premonition of climate change. Its leaders have made desperate pleas - including one delivered while thigh-deep in water - about the existential threat of rising sea levels. The potential exodus of fish threatens to strip Tuvalu and other Pacific Island nations of the very money they need to fight the impacts of global warming. About 60% of Tuvalu's locally generated government revenue comes from fees foreign countries pay to fish for tuna in its waters, Teo said. That revenue has plunged by about 40% over the past five or so years, denting the tiny nation's overall budget by almost 6%. Scientists say it's hard to know how much of that recent drop is due to climate change as opposed to natural migration linked to ocean cycles. But scientific modelling suggests Tuvalu could lose one-quarter of its tuna by 2050. Efforts are under way to help Tuvalu and 13 of its neighbours track how tuna populations are shifting and to demand remuneration. They were recently awarded more than US$100 million ($166m) from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to help adapt. 'Pacific Island countries are fighting hard to establish our rights to be compensated for fish that are caught in the high seas,' Teo said. 'If we are able to definitively assert that the stock that used to occur in our EEZ is now in the high seas as a result of climate change, then that will strengthen our case.' Warming waters are also bleaching local corals, depleting reef fish that Tuvaluans depend on for food. Some of the fund grant will go towards fish aggregation devices: floating structures that help lure larger ocean fish, including tuna, closer to shore for locals to catch. Coral bleaching also disrupts the natural wave protection of atolls like Tuvalu and the replenishment of their shores, said Arthur Webb, who led the Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project to reclaim swathes of desperately needed land in the capital. Each day, a dredging machine in Funafuti's lagoon sucks up sand and pumps it onto reclaimed areas. Sand is also pumped into large bags that are stacked to form protective seawalls. The new land is left to settle before building, which has yet to begin. Tuvalu's ring-shaped land mass covers only 26sqkm and is less than 1.5km across at its widest point, sometimes narrowing to a mere 18m. Photo / Carolyn Van Houten, the Washington Post Tuvalu is roughly 1.5m above mean sea level. Its waters are now rising by about 2.5cm every five years - well above the global average - and estimated to reach 60 to 90cm by 2100, according to Moritz Wandres, an oceanographer with the Pacific Community. By 2060, once-in-50-year floods are predicted to occur every five years, rendering Tuvalu uninhabitable without large-scale adaptation efforts, Wandres said. King tides already routinely inundate much of Funafuti, where motorbikes splash through the water seeping up through the sandy ground. Tuvalu is preparing. It has amended its constitution to protect its statehood and maritime zones, even if it no longer has any land. And it announced a plan to clone itself in the metaverse, preserving its history and culture online. In 2023, Australia provided a more tangible escape plan when it created special visas, at least in part, to help up to 280 Tuvaluans per year escape the wrath of climate change. More than 80% of Tuvalu's population - or 8750 people - has applied for the visa, according to official Australian figures released last week. The predicted decline in tuna will only hasten the outflux. 'This is our only resource,' said Laitailiu Seono, a Fisheries Department officer, as he carved up tuna to be dried and sold. 'That's why we really want to look after them. No fish, no job.' Compounding Tuvalu's anxieties, the US Trump Administration has dealt Pacific Island nations another blow, suspending US$60m per year in South Pacific Tuna Treaty funds for the region - part of a long-standing deal to guarantee US fishing access. During his presidency, Joe Biden promised to double the tuna treaty funds in a bid to counteract China's efforts to woo Pacific Island countries. Instead, Teo said, Tuvalu had yet to receive roughly US$7m it had been counting on: 'A big hole in our projected revenue'. Children play on a seawall surrounding reclaimed land in Funafuti. Tuvalu, a low-lying island nation endangered by rising seas, is building up swathes of land for housing, even as many inhabitants contemplate leaving. Photo / Carolyn Van Houten, the Washington Post At the same time, President Donald Trump's decision to open up the 400,000-square-mile (1,100,000sqkm) Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument to commercial fishing suggested he could scrap the treaty altogether. Like other Trump Administration moves - pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, cutting US Agency for International Development funding and climate financing, and potentially putting travel restrictions on some Pacific countries, including Tuvalu - abandoning the treaty would hurt America's strategic interests and boost that of its stated rival, China, said Alan Tidwell, director of the Centre for Australian, New Zealand, and Pacific Studies at Georgetown University in the US. 'If the US pulls out totally from the Pacific, then someone has to fill that role,' agreed Teo, whose nation is one of only three in the region that still recognise Taiwan instead of China. 'And we know who is eager.' A State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the department 'will continue … to align its activities and programmes with the foreign policy priorities of the president and the secretary.' When Kauaka Petaia returned to shore, his son Siuele was there to help him unload the tuna. The 27-year-old said he had no desire to follow in his father's footsteps. Instead, he would soon head to Australia to work in a meatpacking plant, where the pay is more certain. 'By 2030 or 2050,' he said, 'I don't know if tuna fishing will still be a job in Tuvalu.'
Scoop
02-07-2025
- Scoop
Pacific Leaders Demand Fairer Global Finance At UN Conference Delivered By The Prime Minister Of Tuvalu, Chair Of PSIDS
Seville, Spain, 30 June 2025 – At the second plenary session of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), Tuvalu's Prime Minister Hon. Feleti P. Teo, in his role as Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), delivered a powerful group statement calling for urgent reforms to the global financial system. 'The choice before us is stark: stand with the most vulnerable and deliver justice, or uphold a flawed system that deepens inequality and crisis,' declared Prime Minister Teo. Amid rising climate threats, deepening debt crises, and a widening development financing gap, the PSIDS group urged bold global action across six key areas: Climate Justice Now: Prime Minister Teo questioned the lack of urgency, asking, 'Where is the Marshall Plan for climate action?' and called for scaled-up climate finance and immediate replenishment of the Loss and Damage Fund. Targeted Support for Vulnerable Countries: The PSIDS welcomed the reaffirmation of SIDS as countries in special situations and pushed for the immediate use of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) in allocating concessional finance. Tackling Inequities in Global Taxation: The group supported a UN Framework Convention on Tax Cooperation, advocating for fair taxation of billionaires and multinationals, with PM Teo stating, 'A 2% tax on billionaire wealth could unlock $250 billion annually — enough to start closing global financing gaps.' Restore Correspondent Banking Access: The group called for concrete action to protect vulnerable jurisdictions in the Pacific from losing vital international banking relationships. Financing the Ocean Economy: Reaffirming that the ocean is core to PSIDS identity, the group demanded that ocean initiatives — like SDG14 and the BBNJ Agreement — be fully funded and integrated into global mechanisms. A Just Transition from Fossil Fuels: Disappointed by the removal of fossil fuel phase-out language from the outcome document, the PSIDS called for a 'just, equitable, and time-bound global phase-out.' 'PSIDS contributed negligibly to this emergency — yet here we are, bearing its full cost,' Prime Minister Teo reminded delegates. The Pacific Small Islands Developing States PSIDS, endorsed the Sevilla Platform for Action as a critical tool for follow-through, while also expressing concern over the dilution of ambition in the final outcome document. 'What we need now is not more plans, but political will, bold leadership, and relentless implementation,' said Prime Minister Teo in closing. As small island nations with vast ocean territories and deep cultural resilience, the PSIDS continue to advocate for a global financing system that is fair, future-focused, and fit for purpose.
Scoop
01-07-2025
- Scoop
Pacific Leaders Demand Fairer Global Finance At UN ConferenceDelivered By The Prime Minister Of Tuvalu, Chair Of PSIDS
Seville, Spain, 30 June 2025 – At the second plenary session of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), Tuvalu's Prime Minister Hon. Feleti P. Teo, in his role as Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), delivered a powerful group statement calling for urgent reforms to the global financial system. 'The choice before us is stark: stand with the most vulnerable and deliver justice, or uphold a flawed system that deepens inequality and crisis,' declared Prime Minister Teo. Amid rising climate threats, deepening debt crises, and a widening development financing gap, the PSIDS group urged bold global action across six key areas: Climate Justice Now: Prime Minister Teo questioned the lack of urgency, asking, 'Where is the Marshall Plan for climate action?' and called for scaled-up climate finance and immediate replenishment of the Loss and Damage Fund. Targeted Support for Vulnerable Countries: The PSIDS welcomed the reaffirmation of SIDS as countries in special situations and pushed for the immediate use of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) in allocating concessional finance. Tackling Inequities in Global Taxation: The group supported a UN Framework Convention on Tax Cooperation, advocating for fair taxation of billionaires and multinationals, with PM Teo stating, 'A 2% tax on billionaire wealth could unlock $250 billion annually — enough to start closing global financing gaps.' Restore Correspondent Banking Access: The group called for concrete action to protect vulnerable jurisdictions in the Pacific from losing vital international banking relationships. Financing the Ocean Economy: Reaffirming that the ocean is core to PSIDS identity, the group demanded that ocean initiatives — like SDG14 and the BBNJ Agreement — be fully funded and integrated into global mechanisms. A Just Transition from Fossil Fuels: Disappointed by the removal of fossil fuel phase-out language from the outcome document, the PSIDS called for a 'just, equitable, and time-bound global phase-out.' 'PSIDS contributed negligibly to this emergency — yet here we are, bearing its full cost,' Prime Minister Teo reminded delegates. The Pacific Small Islands Developing States PSIDS, endorsed the Sevilla Platform for Action as a critical tool for follow-through, while also expressing concern over the dilution of ambition in the final outcome document. 'What we need now is not more plans, but political will, bold leadership, and relentless implementation,' said Prime Minister Teo in closing. As small island nations with vast ocean territories and deep cultural resilience, the PSIDS continue to advocate for a global financing system that is fair, future-focused, and fit for purpose.
