Fiji has reinforced its regional leadership on climate mobility after hosting representatives from the Government of Palau as part of a peer-to-peer exchange focused on climate mobility and planned relocation.
Minister for Environment and Climate Change Lynda Tabuya hosted the delegation on Tuesday in an engagement supported by the International Organization for Migration and the Platform on Disaster Displacement. The exchange focused on practical learning and experience-sharing among Pacific governments confronting climate-related displacement.
The meeting builds on Fiji’s recent peer-to-peer engagement with Bangladesh and follows the endorsement of the Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility Implementation Plan 2025–2030. The plan identifies peer-to-peer learning on planned relocation as a priority action for Pacific Island states.
During the discussions, representatives from Vanuatu and Palau expressed interest in undertaking a one-week learning mission to Fiji to better understand the country’s experience, systems and lessons learned in planned relocation.
Tabuya welcomed the engagement and reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to working with regional and international partners to strengthen climate mobility responses across the Pacific. She noted that peer-to-peer cooperation enables Pacific nations to learn directly from one another’s experiences, challenges and solutions, reinforcing regional ownership of climate mobility initiatives.
The engagement forms part of ongoing cooperation between Fiji and Palau as Fiji continues to expand collaboration on climate mobility and planned relocation across the region.
The Pacific Regional Framework on Climate Mobility, endorsed at the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Rarotonga in 2023, provides guidance for Forum governments, communities, non-state actors and partners to support climate-related movement in a culturally appropriate and inclusive manner.
