The Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation comes into effect today.
A Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme spokesperson says it represents a great first step in the global commitment to addressing climate change.
Kiribati former president Anote Tong has said the effects of climate change have already caused entire communities to leave. Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
However SPREP's Dr Tommy Moore said there is still a lot more that needs to be done.
"Based on current calculations these emissions reductions are not sufficient to reduce global warming or climate change to levels that were agreed upon in the Paris Agreement."
Dr Moore said the region can continue to succeed in effecting positive change at climate change negotiations by speaking with one Pacific voice and focusing on issues with a single amplified voice.
One of these is the intention of the Paris Agreement to increase the ambition of carbon reductions to a shorter and binding timeframe.
The 2015 Paris Agreement aims to arrest the global economy's addiction to fossil fuels and limit a rise in average world temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees celsius above preindustrial times.