Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has urged that Pacific values, spirituality and traditional knowledge be central to the region’s response to climate change, using the launch on Tuesday night of a new scholarly volume in Suva to press for a broader, relational approach to policymaking.
Speaking at the Suva event to mark the release of Climate Change in Pasifika Relational Perspectives, published by Pasifika Communities University Press under the Toda Peace Institute, Rabuka said the book brings together regional and international scholars to reframe how climate risk and response are understood in the Pacific. “For Fiji, climate change is encountered through our relationship with the vanua, ocean, communities, and in our faith,” he told guests, stressing that those relationships must shape solutions as much as technical fixes.
Rabuka argued that Pacific societies have long resisted viewing life through purely technical or rational lenses and that responses to crises are informed by spiritual responsibility, political relationships and moral obligation. “While science, technology, and evidence-based policy remain vital, they cannot stand alone,” he said, calling for climate action to be “grounded in research and informed by the wisdom of communities and forebears.”
The prime minister described the book as offering a distinctly Pacific framing that combines cultural knowledge with academic insight and forward-looking perspectives. He said the publication goes beyond mapping the scale of climate challenges to advance a vision that explicitly links climate action with peace, security and sustainable development — bridging what he described as gaps in mainstream climate discourse by highlighting connections between scientific understanding and community-based knowledge, including faith.
Rabuka emphasised that the Pacific perspective privileges interconnectedness and shared responsibility rather than transactional or short-term frameworks. “As climate change increasingly reshapes global conversations on security and stability, the Pacific offers an important perspective — one that is relational rather than transactional and grounded in long-term responsibility,” he said, framing the book as a testament to “Pacific thought, leadership and collective goals.”
The launch comes as Pacific nations are pressing for stronger legal and policy levers on the international stage and advancing domestic resilience measures. Recent international developments — including a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice and stalled global negotiations such as the plastics treaty talks — have intensified calls from island leaders for frameworks that reflect frontline experiences and priorities. Rabuka’s remarks underscore a push to ensure regional voices and indigenous epistemologies are heard alongside scientific and technical expertise in those forums.
Organisers said the volume aims to enrich regional debates by placing Pasifika relational perspectives at the centre of climate, security and development discussions. By elevating spiritual and traditional modes of knowledge, the book seeks to influence how policymakers, academics and communities conceive of vulnerability, responsibility and the long-term stewardship of land and ocean resources in Fiji and across the Pacific.