Professor Sir Collin Tukuitonga has argued that the world should look to the Pacific for solutions to climate change and health inequity, in a commentary released by Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Tukuitonga wrote the piece ahead of pre-COP31 discussions in Fiji convened by the World Health Organization Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health, known as ACE.
He said the talks would cover the health co-benefits of climate action and opportunities for closer regional collaboration before COP31.
The meeting is co-hosted by Dr Sandro Demaio and Dr Liz Bennet of ACE.
Tukuitonga said he would appear on stage on 7 October with WHO Regional Director Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala, Hon Kate Thwaites MP, Australia's Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience, and Dr Christina Newport of the Cook Islands.
He wrote that climate change, environmental damage, food insecurity and health inequities are now global questions, but are not new ones for Pacific peoples, who have adapted to environmental change through collective decision-making, stewardship of resources and knowledge passed between generations.
Tukuitonga said innovation is usually associated with technology companies and laboratories, but can also come from Indigenous knowledge systems, community leadership and collective action.
Pacific innovation often remains invisible beyond the communities it serves, he said.
He pointed to the....
