Pacific leaders, climate advocates and representatives of vulnerable communities have issued the Taku Pakasoa Declaration, calling for stronger global action to limit warming to 1.5°C, scale up climate finance and protect the rights, livelihoods and cultures of small island states.
Issued in Tuvalu on October 6, the declaration—Taku Pakasoa, meaning “strength found in unity” in Tuvaluan—warns that rising temperatures, sea-level rise, ocean warming and other climate impacts pose an existential threat to Pacific communities and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
The declaration commends Pacific island countries for their leadership in global climate diplomacy and calls on all Paris Agreement parties to accelerate deep, rapid and sustained emissions reductions to limit the magnitude and duration of any temperature overshoot.
It urges countries that have not yet submitted their 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to do so urgently and calls for climate decisions to be guided by the best available science from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
