Pacific pushes for climate change vulnerability definition of "fragility" to include climate change vulnerability.
High tides in Marshall Islands in March 2016 hit a seawall. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson
This was one of the key messages from last week's Forum Economic Ministers meeting in Suva.
The PACNEWS agency reported that Samoa's Finance Minister, Sili Epa Tuioti, told journalists the fight is not only for the Pacific but other Small Island Developing States affected by climate change.
He said Pacific ministers sent strong messages to the World Bank during a roundtable discussion at the meeting.
Sili Epa Tuioti said there was a need to look at some of the vulnerabilities Pacific Islands Countries face from disasters and the resulting economic shocks.
He said the definition of fragility should include an understanding of the situation that small Pacific nations face each day.
The minister said the fact was many of these states had no buffer or resources to tap into when disasters struck.