As heat records tumble and the sea level rises, Fijians on the front lines of the Pacific climate crisis want Australia and other global emitters to do more of the heavy lifting.

Already, when a king tide occurs during one of intense storms that increasingly batter these islands, the seawater rises over the sea wall and sluices under the floorboards of Tulupe’s family home.

The impact [of climate change] on our Pacific Island countries … Is so severe and devastating that the large emitting countries and those companies that keep burning fossil fuel coal, oil and gas should step up and take more responsibility,” Paeniu said.

The group came to Kioa last year for the first time to launch the Kioa Climate Emergency Declaration 2022, an urgent global call to action presented to the international community at last year’s UN climate change conference COP27.

Maina Talia, an organiser of the Kioa meeting and a Tuvaluan climate activist, is blunt: “We had a lot of hope in the new [Australian] government, but opening new coal mines gives us a bad signal.”