From increasing heat-related illnesses and respiratory diseases to the spread of vector-borne diseases, biodiversity loss, water quality, and food insecurity, climate change creates a snowball effect of impacts.
Climate change deeply affects human, animal, and environmental systems; these impacts do not occur in isolation from one another. By following a One Health approach, we recognize that these systems are all connected and interdependent on each other.
The communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis are often experiencing its most severe consequences.
Across low-lying Pacific Island nations, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and ecosystem changes are threatening livelihoods, cultural heritage, food and water security, and forcing some communities to relocate.
Fiji and Tuvalu will be hosting key pre-negotiation meetings ahead of the COP31 climate summit in 2026.
For Pacific Island nations, climate change poses a particular challenge: the communities facing its most severe impacts are often those that contributed least to causing it.
As geographically vulnerable nations continue to face rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and ecosystem disruption, international support is central to building resilience, adapting to changing climate conditions, and protecting the human, animal, and environmental systems that sustain health and livelihoods.
As climate negotiations progress and the COP31 summit approaches, these interconnections, between climate outcomes and the health of human, animal, and environmental systems are becoming increasingly central to the discussion.
