Slow delivery and weak data, so progress is hard to prove

The design, construction, and installation of climate solutions takes time, and data and analysis are outdated, so progress and insight lag behind ambition. Systems for monitoring, reporting, and verification are under-resourced, and ministries don’t always share information. It’s like sailing without reading the winds and tides: you waste energy, miss safe passages, and risk running aground. 

The Pacific has always known how to read the winds. Indigenous knowledge systems and Pasifika philosophy offer a different compass that values relationships, lived experience, and collective stewardship as data. By integrating these wisdoms with modern digital infrastructure, including high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to map fine-scale elevation and coastlines for street and village-level flood, surge, and sea-level-rise modeling, we can build systems that not only track the numbers but tell a story of change as communities do: through connection, observation, and guardianship.

Set the course: Turn targets into bankable, trackable projects that link sectors (energy and transport; food and nature; health and heat), built on these integrated information systems – showing results clearly and holistically. Bringing in the fast-evolving loss and damage work: plan for risks, assess losses, and link evidence to funding so countries can accelerate adaptation and resilience, investing first where people are most exposed and protecting them more effectively. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion – championed by Pacific youth and led by Vanuatu, bridges moral leadership and legal accountability, showing the world that the Pacific is not only on the frontlines of loss and damage but also at the helm of shaping new norms for climate justice.

Solutions that miss the people most affected

Finally, some solutions still miss the people most affected. Plans often name women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, but power and benefits don’t always follow. Participation can be short-term, and jobs, training, and social protection lag behind. Co-design is essential. As the saying goes, “nothing about them without them,” so that fairness and equity become guiding principles, not afterthoughts. Transformation is only real when people move forward together, not when change moves ahead without them. In the Pacific, justice, culture, and sovereignty are intrinsically linked with the natural environment and must be respected.

Set the course: The community we sail for. As we embark on this seafaring journey, the measure of success is whether climate action lifts dignity, protects culture, and strengthens livelihoods at the village level. That means decent jobs and reskilling, real roles for youth, recognition of customary governance and traditional knowledge, and strong safeguards to leave no one behind.